Abstract
Important role of flowering genes in enhancing grain productivity in rice has become well recognized for a number of key genes regulating the florigen production, but little has been known for the two florigen genes themselves. In this study, pleiotropism of Rice Flowering Locus T 1 (RFT1), one of the two florigen genes in rice, was firstly evaluated using near isogenic lines (NILs) carrying RFT1 alleles from the indica rice cultivars Zhenshan 97 (ZS97) and Milyang 46, respectively, and then determined by transformation of the RFT1ZS97 allele into a japonica rice variety, Zhonghua 11. The RFT1ZS97 allele was shown to delay heading and increase plant height, grain weight, grain number and grain yield, indicating that RFT1 plays an important role in the growth and development of rice. This study has also validated the potential of using a new type of genetic resource, sequential residual heterozygotes (SeqRHs), for QTL fine-mapping. A step-by-step approach was employed for SeqRHs identification, NIL development and QTL fine-mapping. The heterozygous segments and candidate QTL regions were gradually narrowed down. Eventually, the QTL region was delimited to a 1.7 kb region containing a single gene.
Highlights
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the staple food for half of the world’s population
While the important role of flowering genes in determining the yield potential of cultivated rice has become well recognized for a number of key genes regulating the florigen production, little has been known for Hd3a and Rice Flowering Locus T 1 (RFT1), the two florigen genes immediately trigger and control flowering in rice
A three-step procedure, selecting residual heterozygotes (RHs) overlapped in the candidate QTL region – constructing near isogenic lines (NILs)-F2 populations – performing QTL analysis, was repeated until the QTL was placed at the RFT1 locus (Fig. 1)
Summary
Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the staple food for half of the world’s population. Among strategies for developing rice varieties with higher yield potential and greater yield stability is the identification and introduction of beneficial genes[1]. A better understanding of pleiotropism of the cloned QTLs is of great importance for designing a molecular breeding strategy and making an efficient selection criterion for the target traits and genes. While the important role of flowering genes in determining the yield potential of cultivated rice has become well recognized for a number of key genes regulating the florigen production, little has been known for Hd3a and RFT1, the two florigen genes immediately trigger and control flowering in rice. The results indicate that RFT1 play an important role in the growth and development of rice Another goal of this study is attempting to locate a QTL into a single-gene region by using a new type of genetic resource, sequential residual heterozygotes (SeqRHs). The QTL region was delimited to a 1.7-kb region containing a single gene locus, RFT1
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