Isolation and Characterization of Starch Mutants in Rice

Abstract

We isolated various kinds of mutants participating in the biosynthesis of endosperm starch by the MNU treatment of fertilized egg cells in japonica rice cultivars. There were at least 6 mutant loci lowering amylose content including the wx locus. These low amylose mutations altered the amylose content without affecting the amylopectin structure. The amylose content did not affect the initiation of gelatinization, but influenced greatly the swelling of gel, indicating that amylose content affects the swelling power of gel and the termination of gelatinization. BEIIb mutation decreased specifically the short chains with DP less than 17 in amylopectin whereas BEI mutation was characterized by a significant decrease in long chains with DP longer than 38 and short chains with DP 12 to 23, suggesting that BEIIb and BEI contributes to the synthesis of A chains, and B, and B3 chains of amylopectin, respectively. Notable alteration on the chain length profile was not observed in BEIIa mutation. Each BE mutation showed distinct effect on the thermal properties of endosperm starch. The sug2 mutation lowering the expression level of PUL increased shorter chains of amylopectin and accumulated a significant amount of the water-soluble polysaccharides as well as ISA (sugl ) mutation. The fl o2 mutation decreased simultaneously the expression levels of some of the enzymes including BEI, PUL and GBSS, suggesting that the wild type Flo2 gene probably encodes a regulatory protein that modulates the expression of the genes involved in starch biosynthesis. Some mutants involved in the biosyn thesis of ADP-glucose were also isolated.