Genetic analysis and gene fine mapping of a rolling leaf mutant (<Emphasis Type="Italic">rl</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">11(t)</Emphasis></Subscript>) in rice (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza sativa</Emphasis> L.)

The exploration of new genes controlling rice leaf shape is an important foundation for rice functional genomics and plant archi-tecture improvement. In the present study, we identified a rolling leaf mutant from indica variety Yuefeng B, named rl_11(t), which exhibited reduced plant height, rolling and narrow leaves. Leaves in rl_11(t) mutant showed abnormal number and morphology of veins compared with those in wild type plants. In addition, rl_11(t) mutant was less sensitive to the inhibitory effect of auxin than the wild type. Genetic analysis suggested that the mutant was controlled by a single recessive gene. Gene Rl_11(t) was initially mapped between SSR markers RM6089 and RM124 on chromosome 4. Thirty-two new STS markers around the Rl_11(t) region were developed for fine mapping. A physical map encompassing the Rl_11(t) locus was constructed and the target gene was finally delimited to a 31.6 kb window between STS4-25 and STS4-26 on BAC AL606645. This provides useful information for cloning of Rl_11(t) gene.     

Genetic and physical finemapping of the Sc locus conferring indica-japonica hybrid sterility in rice （Oryza sativa L.）

Hybrid sterility is a major hindrance to utilizing the heterosis in indica-japonica hybrids. To isolate a gene Sc conferring the hybrid sterility, the locus was mapped using molecular markers and an F2 population derived from a cross between near isogenic lines. A primary linkage analysis showed that Sc was linked closely with 4 markers on chromosome 3, on which the genetic distance between a marker RG227 and Sc was 0.07 cM. Chromosome walking with a rice TAC genomic library was carried out using RG227 as a starting probe, and a contig of ca. 320 kb covering the Sc locus was constructed. Two TAC clones, M45EI4 and M90J01 that might cover the Sc locus, were partially sequenced. By searching the rice sequence databases with sequences of the TACs and RG227 a japonica rice BAC sequence, OSJNBb0078P24 was identified. By comparing the TAC and BAC sequences, six new PCR-based markers were developed. With these markers the Sc locus was further mapped to a region of 46 kb. The results suggest that the BAC OSJNBb0078P24 and TAC M45EI4 contain the Sc gene. Six ORFs were predicted in the focused 46-kb region.     

Mapping of genetic modifiers of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Plcd1</Emphasis> in scant hair mice (<Emphasis Type="Italic">snthr</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">1Bao</Emphasis></Superscript>)

The scant hair mutant mouse (locus symbol: snthr ^1Bao ) is a recessive mutation that originated in an ethylnitrosourea chemical carcinogenesis study using the DBA/2J inbred strain. The gene responsible for the mutation was previously determined to be phospholipase C, delta 1 (Plcd1; mutant allele symbol Plcd1 ^snthr1Bao ). To map the modifiers of Plcd1, an intercross (DBA/2J-snthr ^1Bao /snthr ^1Bao × C57BL/6J+/+) was conducted. The F2 mutant progeny exhibited a variety of alopecia phenotypes; all F2 mutants (n=507) were classified into 3 groups (mild, moderate, and severe alopecia) and genotyped based on 96 microsatellites. A major QTL was identified on mouse chromosome (mChr) 15 at 12 cM with an LOD score greater than 7 (P < 0.0001). Three minor QTLs were detected on mChr 2, 5, and 7 at 40, 84 and 48 cM, respectively. The QTLs on mChr 7 and 15 were associated with minor alopecia while the QTLs on mChr 2 and 5 were associated with moderate to severe alopecia. No antagonistic or synergistic effects among or between the 4 QTLs were found. Integrating the functions of the 4 potential regulatory QTLs and mutant Plcd1 ^snthr1Bao , we found that these QTLs might contribute to variations of scant hair severity by altering the Ca²⁺ signal pathways in mouse skin.     

Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated Transformation of CryⅠA(b) gene to Trichoderma harzianum

In this study, Cry ⅠA(b) gene was successfully transferred into the biocontrol fungus Trichoderma harzianum with an efficiency of 60-180 transformants per 10^6 spores by using Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. Putative transformants were analyzed to test the presence of Cry ⅠA(b) gene by Southern blot. Most transformants contained a single T-DNA copy. RT-PCR analysis showed that the Cry ⅠA(b) gene was transcribed. Antifungal activities and insecticidal activities of the transformants were examined. There was no obvious difference in antifungal activities between the transformants and their wild strains. The modified mortalities of the transformants T1 and T2 were 69.57% and 91.30%, respectively. The tranformation system mediated by A. tumefaciens proved to be a powerful tool for the filamentous fungi transformation and functional genomic study with its high transformation frequency, simplicity of T-DNA integration, and genetic stability of transformants.     

Mapping and characterization of a tiller-spreading mutant<Emphasis Type="Italic">lazy-2</Emphasis> in rice

Tiller angle of rice is an important agronomic trait that contributes to breed new varieties with ideal architecture. In this study, we report mapping and characterization of a rice mutant defective in tiller angle. At the seedling stage, the newly developed tillers of the mutant plants grow with a large angle that leads to a “lazy“ phenotype at the mature stage. Genetic analysis indicates that this tillerspreading phenotype is controlled by one recessive gene that is allelic to a reported mutant la. Therefore, the mutant was named la-2 and la renamed la-1. To map and clone LA, we constructed a large mapping population. Genetic linkage analysis showed that the LA gene is located between 2 SSR markers RM202 and RM229. By using the 6 newly-developed molecular markers, the LA gene was placed within a 0.4 cM interval on chromosome 11, allowing us to clone LA and study the mechanism that controls rice tiller angle at the molecular level.     

Genetic diversity in the male-specific <Emphasis Type="Italic">SRY</Emphasis> gene of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Lepus yarkandensis</Emphasis>

Lepus yarkandensis, an endemic hare species in the Tarim Basin of China, has been suffering from habitat fragmentation due to desert expansion. To evaluate the effect of habitat fragmentation on its genetic diversity, the genetic diversity based on male-specific SRY gene marker is examined. A relatively low level of SRY genetic diversity is found compared to previous studies with mtDNA data, possibly due to the low SRY mutation rate and positive selection. Furthermore, one haplotype exists in eight populations along the Tarim River but not in many other relatively isolated populations, suggesting that habitat fragmentation may affect population divergence. Despite this, our pairwise Fst analysis shows no significant differentiation among populations, and this may be mainly caused by positive selection on the SRY gene in that 88 percent of individuals share the same haplotype. Finally, the phylogenetic analysis shows deep differentiation between L. yarkandensis and other two hare species (L. capensis and L. europaeus).     

Characterization of a new mutant allele of the Arabidopsis Flowering Locus D （FLD） gene that controls the flowering time by repressing FLC

Flowering in higher plants is controlled by both the internal and environmental cues. In Arabidopsis, several major genetic loci have been defined as the key switches to control flowering. The Flowering Locus C （FLC） gene has been shown in the autonomous pathway to inhibit the vegetative-to-reproductive transition. FLC appears to be repressed by Flowering Locus D （FLD）, which encodes a component of the histone deacetylase complex. Here we report the identification and characterization of a new mutant allele f/d-5. Genetic analysis indicates that fld-5 （in the Wassilewskija background） is allelic to the previously characterized fld-3 and fld-4 （in the Colombia-0 background）. Genetic and molecular analyses reveal that fld-5 carries a frame-shift mutation, resulting in a premature termination of the FLD open reading frame. The FLC expression is remarkably increased in fld-5, which presumably attributes to the extremely delayed flowering phenotype of the mutant.     

The enoyl-ACP reductase gene, <Emphasis Type="Italic">fabI1</Emphasis>, of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Sinorhizobium meliloti</Emphasis> is involved in salt tolerance,swarming mobility and nodulation efficiency

Our previous work showed that an enoyl-ACP reductase gene fabI1 of Sinorhizobium meliloti was down-regulated in the nifA mutant nodule bacteria. To gain a better understanding of fabI1 gene, a single site insertion mutant was constructed in this study. The fabI1 mutant was retarded in cell growth, and its ability to grow on media with high concentration of NaCl was reduced. In addition, the mutant was completely defective in swarming phenotype. During symbiosis, the fabI1 mutant had delayed nodule formation...     

Cloning and expression of <Emphasis Type="Italic">AtPLC6</Emphasis>, a gene encoding a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

A full-length cDNA clone corresponding to a putative phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C(PIPLC) was isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana by screening a cDNA library and using RT-PCR strategy.The cDNA,designated AtPLC6,encodes a putative polypeptide of 578 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 66251.84 D and a pI of 7.24. The sequence analysis indicates that the polypeptide contains X, Y, EF-hand and C2 domains.The overall structure of putative AtPLC6 protein, like other plant PI-PLCs,is most similar to that of mammalian PLCδ The recombinant AtPLC6 protein expressed in E. coil was able to hydrolyze phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biophosphate (PIP2) to generate inositol 1,4,5-trisphate (IP3) and 1,2-diacylglycerol (DAG).The protein hydrolyzes PIP2 in a Ca^2 -dependent manner and the optimum concentration of Ca^2 is 10μmol/L.These results suggested that AtPLC6 gene encodes a genuine PIPLC.Northern blot analysis showed that the AtPLC6 gene is expressed at low level in all examined tissues, such as roots,stems,leaves,flowers,siliques and seedlings under normal growth conditions.The gene is strongly induced under low temperature and weakly induced under various stresses,such as ABA, high-salt stress and heat. These results suggested that AtPLC6 might be involved in the signal-transduction pathways of cold responses of the plants.     

Southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus: A new proposed <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fijivirus</Emphasis> species in the family <Emphasis Type="Italic">Reoviridae</Emphasis>

For the past several years, a novel dwarf disease has been observed on rice （Oryza sativa） in some regions of Guangdong Province and Hainan Province, southern China. Infected plants showed stunting, dark leaf and small enations on stem and leaf back. Typical Fijivirus viroplasma containing crystalline arrayed spherical virons approximately 70--75 nm in diameter and tubular structures were detected in ultrathin sections by an electron microscope in parenchyma phloem cells of the infected plants. The virus was transmitted to rice seedlings by white-backed planthoppers, Sogatella furcifera （Hemiptera： Delphacidae）, collected in the diseased fields. Analysis of dsRNA extracts from infected plants revealed ten linear segments, which were similar to the electrophoretic profile of Rice black-streaked dwarf virus （RBSDV）. RT-PCR with a single primer which matched to a linker sequence ligated to both 3＇ ends of the viral genomic dsRNAs resulted in amplification of genome segments 9 （S9） and 10 （S10） cDNA products. The complete nucleotide sequences of S9 and S10 were obtained from clones of the RT-PCR amplicon exhibited characteristic properties of Fijivirus including low GC content （34.5% and 35.6%）, genus conserved 5＇ and 3＇ termini sequences and similar genome organization. Blast searches indicated that the sequences of S9 and S10 shared 68.8%--74.9% and 67.1% --77.4% nucleotide identities with those of viruses in the Fijivirus group 2, respectively. These values were similar to those among other viruses in the Fijivirus group 2 and considerably lower than those among RBSDV isolates. Phylogenetic trees based on S9 and S10 nucleotide sequences and their putative amino acid sequences showed that this virus represented a separate branch among other Fijiviruses. The virus was also detected by a nested RT-PCR assay in corn （Zea mays）, barnyard grass （Echinochloa crusgalll）, Juncellus serotinus and flaccidgrass （Pennisetum flaccidum） in and/or adjacent to the infected rice fields. I     

Analysis of type II toxin-antitoxin genes <Emphasis Type="Italic">all</Emphasis> 3211-<Emphasis Type="Italic">asl</Emphasis> 3212 in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Anabaena</Emphasis> PCC 7120

The type II toxin-antitoxin genes are responsible for the phenotypic switch to a quasi-dormant state that enables cell survival under stresses, a similar function to heterocyst of cyanobacteria. In this paper, we particularly study the role of gene pair all3211-asl3212 under Spectinomycin stress to reveal how the type II toxin-antitoxin involved in environmental stress responses. Bioinformatics prediction shows that toxin protein gene All3211 is homologous to MazF, a member of mazEF family that encoding nucleases. We clone gene all3211-asl3212 into expression vectors to identify its molecular characteristics. Deletion mutant strains of all3211-asl3212 are selected in a tri-parental mating screen. Phenotype comparisons of mutant and wild type reveals no difference of single-deletion-mutants in pigment integrity, the sensitivity to antibiotics, and heterocyst formation. The results show that deletion mutation of single TAS gene pair all3211-asl3212 results in limited effects on the cellular growth of PCC 7120. Thus, we suggest that dosage compensating might be provided from redundant genes or bypass pathways to offset obvious phenotypic differences.     

Properties of a class of groups on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Z</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis></Subscript>

In this paper, we obtain the factorization of direct production and order of group GL(n, Z _m ) in a simple method. Then we generalize some properties of GL(2, Z _p ) proposed by Huppert, and prove that the group \(GL\left( {2,{Z_{{z^\lambda }}}} \right)\) is solvable. We also prove that group GL(n, Z _p ) is solvable if and only if GL(n, Z _p ) is solvable, and list the generators of groups GL(n, Z _p ) and SL(n, Z _p ). At last, we prove that PSL(2, Z _p )(p > 3) and PSL(n, Z _p )(n > 3) are simple.     

Introducing antisense <Emphasis Type="Italic">waxy</Emphasis> gene into rice seeds reduces grain amylose contents using a safe transgenic technique

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) eating quality is one of themost important traits. Amylose content (AC) in rice en-dosperm is a major index affecting rice eating quality[1,2].It has a negative correlation with gel consistency of rice[3].Based on amylose content, r…     

Comparative proteomics analysis of <Emphasis Type="Italic">OsNAS1</Emphasis> transgenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brassica napus</Emphasis> under salt stress

Salt stress is one of the major abiotic stresses in agricultural plants worldwide. We used proteomics to analyze the differential expression of proteins in transgenic OsNAS1 and non-transformant Brassica napus treated with 20 mmol/L Na₂CO₃. Total protein from the leaves was extracted and separated through a high-resolution and highly repetitive two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) technology system. Twelve protein spots were reproducibly observed to be upregulated by more than 2-fold between transgenic and non-transformant B. napus. These 12 spots were digested in-gel with trypsin and characterized by matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) to obtain the peptide mass fingerprints. Protein database searching revealed that 5 of these proteins are involved in salt tolerance: dehydrogenase, glutathione S-transferase, peroxidase, 20S proteasome beta subunit, and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase. The potential functions of these identified proteins in substance and energy metabolism, stress tolerance, protein degradation, and cell defense are discussed. The salt tolerance of the transgenic rapeseed was significantly improved by the introduction of the OsNAS1 gene from Brazilian upland rice of Oryza sativa (cv. IAPAR 9).     

Fine mapping of a semidwarf gene sd-g in indica rice（Oryza sativa L.）

The semidwarf gene sd-g which has been usedin indiea rice breeding in southern China is a new one, non-allelic to sd-1. To map sd-g, an F2 population derived fromthe cross between Xinguiaishuangai and 02428 was con-structed. The sd-g was roughly mapped between two mi-crosatellite markers RM440 and RM163, with genetic dis-tances of 0.5 and 2.5 cM, respectively. Then nine new poly-morphic microsatellite markers were developed in this region.The sd-g was further mapped between two microsatellitemarkers SSR5-1 and SSR5-51, with genetic distances of 0.1and 0.3 cM, respectively, while cosegregated with SSR418. ABAC contig was found to span the sd-g locus, the region be-ing delimited to 85 kb. This result was very useful for cloningof the sd-g gene.     

Fermentation of xylose to produce ethanol by recombinant <Emphasis Type="Italic">Saccharomyces cerevisiae</Emphasis> strain containing <Emphasis Type="Italic">XYLA</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">XKS1</Emphasis>

Fermentation of the pentose sugar xylose to produce ethanol using lignocellulosic biomass would make bioethanol production economically more competitive. Saccharomyce cerevisise, an efficient ethanol producer, cannot utilize xylose because it lacks the ability to convert xylose to its isomer xylulose. In this study, XYLA gene encoding xylose isomerase (XI) from Thermoanaerobacter tengcongensis MB4T and XKS1 gene encoding xylulokinase (XK) from Pichia stipitis were cloned and functionally coexpressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae EF-326 to construct a recombinant xylose-utilizing strain. The resulting strain S. cerevisiae EF 1014 not only grew on xylose as sole carbon source, but also produced ethanol under anaerobic conditions. Fermentations performed with different xylose concentrations at different temperatures demonstrated that the highest ethanol productivity was 0.11 g/g xylose when xylose concentration was provided at 50 g/L. Under this condition, 28.4% of xylose was consumed and 1.54 g/L xylitol was formed. An increasing fermentation temperature from 30℃ to 37℃ did not improve ethanol yield.