An active DNA transposon family in rice

The publication of draft sequences for the two subspecies of Oryza sativa (rice), japonica (cv. Nipponbare) and indica (cv. 93-11), provides a unique opportunity to study the dynamics of transposable elements in this important crop plant. Here we report the use of these sequences in a computational approach to identify the first active DNA transposons from rice and the first active miniature inverted-repeat transposable element (MITE) from any organism. A sequence classified as a Tourist-like MITE of 430 base pairs, called miniature Ping (mPing), was present in about 70 copies in Nipponbare and in about 14 copies in 93-11. These mPing elements, which are all nearly identical, transpose actively in an indica cell-culture line. Database searches identified a family of related transposase-encoding elements (called Pong), which also transpose actively in the same cells. Virtually all new insertions of mPing and Pong elements were into low-copy regions of the rice genome. Since the domestication of rice mPing MITEs have been amplified preferentially in cultivars adapted to environmental extremes-a situation that is reminiscent of the genomic shock theory for transposon activation.     

The plant MITE mPing is mobilized in anther culture

Transposable elements constitute a large portion of eukaryotic genomes and contribute to their evolution and diversification. Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) constitute one of the main groups of transposable elements and are distributed ubiquitously in the genomes of plants and animals such as maize, rice, Arabidopsis, human, insect and nematode. Because active MITEs have not been identified, the transposition mechanism of MITEs and their accumulation in eukaryotic genomes remain poorly understood. Here we describe a new class of MITE, called miniature Ping (mPing), in the genome of Oryza sativa (rice). mPing elements are activated in cells derived from anther culture, where they are excised efficiently from original sites and reinserted into new loci. An mPing-associated Ping element, which has a putative PIF family transposase, is implicated in the recent proliferation of this MITE family in a subspecies of rice.     

Sub1A is an ethylene-response-factor-like gene that confers submergence tolerance to rice

Most Oryza sativa cultivars die within a week of complete submergence--a major constraint to rice production in south and southeast Asia that causes annual losses of over US 1 billion dollars and affects disproportionately the poorest farmers in the world. A few cultivars, such as the O. sativa ssp. indica cultivar FR13A, are highly tolerant and survive up to two weeks of complete submergence owing to a major quantitative trait locus designated Submergence 1 (Sub1) near the centromere of chromosome 9 (refs 3, 4, 5-6). Here we describe the identification of a cluster of three genes at the Sub1 locus, encoding putative ethylene response factors. Two of these genes, Sub1B and Sub1C, are invariably present in the Sub1 region of all rice accessions analysed. In contrast, the presence of Sub1A is variable. A survey identified two alleles within those indica varieties that possess this gene: a tolerance-specific allele named Sub1A-1 and an intolerance-specific allele named Sub1A-2. Overexpression of Sub1A-1 in a submergence-intolerant O. sativa ssp. japonica conferred enhanced tolerance to the plants, downregulation of Sub1C and upregulation of Alcohol dehydrogenase 1 (Adh1), indicating that Sub1A-1 is a primary determinant of submergence tolerance. The FR13A Sub1 locus was introgressed into a widely grown Asian rice cultivar using marker-assisted selection. The new variety maintains the high yield and other agronomic properties of the recurrent parent and is tolerant to submergence. Cultivation of this variety is expected to provide protection against damaging floods and increase crop security for farmers.     

Sequence and analysis of rice chromosome 4

Rice is the principal food for over half of the population of the world. With its genome size of 430 megabase pairs (Mb), the cultivated rice species Oryza sativa is a model plant for genome research. Here we report the sequence analysis of chromosome 4 of O. sativa, one of the first two rice chromosomes to be sequenced completely. The finished sequence spans 34.6 Mb and represents 97.3% of the chromosome. In addition, we report the longest known sequence for a plant centromere, a completely sequenced contig of 1.16 Mb corresponding to the centromeric region of chromosome 4. We predict 4,658 protein coding genes and 70 transfer RNA genes. A total of 1,681 predicted genes match available unique rice expressed sequence tags. Transposable elements have a pronounced bias towards the euchromatic regions, indicating a close correlation of their distributions to genes along the chromosome. Comparative genome analysis between cultivated rice subspecies shows that there is an overall syntenic relationship between the chromosomes and divergence at the level of single-nucleotide polymorphisms and insertions and deletions. By contrast, there is little conservation in gene order between rice and Arabidopsis.     

Identification and mapping of genes for improving yield from Chinese common wild rice (O. rufipogon Griff.) using advanced backcross QTL analysis

To identify useful genes from wild rice which have been lost or weakened in cultivated rice has become more and more important for modern breeding strategy. In this study, a BC4 population derived from 94W1, an acces-sion of common wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.) from Dongxiang in Jiangxi Province of China, as the donor, and a high-yielding Indica cultivar (O. sativa L.), "Guichao 2", as the recipient, was used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with yield and its components. Based on the analysis for the genotype of BC4F1 population with 87 SSR markers distributed throughout the genome and investigation of the plant height, yield and yield components of BC4F2, a total of 52 QTLs, were detected. Of 7 QTLs associated with grain yield per plant, 2 QTLs on chro-mosome 2 and chromosome 11 for grain yield, explaining 16% and 11% of the phenotypic variance respectively, were identified. The alleles from Dongxiang common wild rice in those two loci could increase the yield of "Guichao 2" by 25.9% and 23.2% respectively. The QTL on chromosome 2 increasing grain yield of cultivar is actually a major gene, which did not coincide with any previously published QTLs in rice.     

Mapping of a new gene for brown planthopper resistance in cultivated rice introgressed fromOryza eichingeri

Wild rice species is an important source of useful genes for cultivated rice improvement. Some accessions of Oryza eichingeri (2n = 24, CC) from Africa confer strong resistance to brown planthopper (BPH), whitebacked planthopper (WBPH) and bacterial blight (BB). In the present study, restriction fragments length polymorphism (RFLP) and simple sequence repeats (SSR) analysis were performed on disomic backcross plants between Oryza sativa (2n = 24, AA) and O. eichingeri in order to identify the presence of O. eichingeri segments and further to localize BPH-resistant gene. In the introgression lines, 1—6 O. eichingeri segments were detected on rice chromosomes 1, 2, 6, or/and 10. The dominant BPH resistant gene, tentatively named Bph13(t), was mapped to chromosome 2, being 6.1 and 5.5 cM away from two microsatellite markers RM240 and RM250, respectively. The transfer and localization of this gene from O. eichingeri will contribute to the improvement of BPH resistance in cultivated rice.     

The grapevine genome sequence suggests ancestral hexaploidization in major angiosperm phyla

The analysis of the first plant genomes provided unexpected evidence for genome duplication events in species that had previously been considered as true diploids on the basis of their genetics. These polyploidization events may have had important consequences in plant evolution, in particular for species radiation and adaptation and for the modulation of functional capacities. Here we report a high-quality draft of the genome sequence of grapevine (Vitis vinifera) obtained from a highly homozygous genotype. The draft sequence of the grapevine genome is the fourth one produced so far for flowering plants, the second for a woody species and the first for a fruit crop (cultivated for both fruit and beverage). Grapevine was selected because of its important place in the cultural heritage of humanity beginning during the Neolithic period. Several large expansions of gene families with roles in aromatic features are observed. The grapevine genome has not undergone recent genome duplication, thus enabling the discovery of ancestral traits and features of the genetic organization of flowering plants. This analysis reveals the contribution of three ancestral genomes to the grapevine haploid content. This ancestral arrangement is common to many dicotyledonous plants but is absent from the genome of rice, which is a monocotyledon. Furthermore, we explain the chronology of previously described whole-genome duplication events in the evolution of flowering plants.     

The map-based sequence of the rice genome

Rice, one of the world's most important food plants, has important syntenic relationships with the other cereal species and is a model plant for the grasses. Here we present a map-based, finished quality sequence that covers 95% of the 389 Mb genome, including virtually all of the euchromatin and two complete centromeres. A total of 37,544 non-transposable-element-related protein-coding genes were identified, of which 71% had a putative homologue in Arabidopsis. In a reciprocal analysis, 90% of the Arabidopsis proteins had a putative homologue in the predicted rice proteome. Twenty-nine per cent of the 37,544 predicted genes appear in clustered gene families. The number and classes of transposable elements found in the rice genome are consistent with the expansion of syntenic regions in the maize and sorghum genomes. We find evidence for widespread and recurrent gene transfer from the organelles to the nuclear chromosomes. The map-based sequence has proven useful for the identification of genes underlying agronomic traits. The additional single-nucleotide polymorphisms and simple sequence repeats identified in our study should accelerate improvements in rice production.     

Characterization of enhancer trap and gene trap harboring Ac／Ds transposon in transgenic rice

Insertion mutagenesis has become one of the most popular methods for gene functions analysis.Here we report a two-element Ac/Ds transposon system containing enhancer trap and gene trap for gene tagging in rice.The excision of Ds element was examined by PCR amplification.The excision frequency of Ds element varied from 0% to 40% among 20 F2 populations derived from 11 different Ds parents.Southern blot analysis revealed that more than 70% of excised Ds elements reinserted into rice genome and above 70% of the reinserted Ds elements were located at different positions of the chromosome in rice.The result of histochemical GUS analysis indicated that 28% of enhancer trap and 22% of gene trap tagging plants displayed GUS activity in leaves, roots,flowers or seeds.The GUS positive lines will be useful for identifying gene function in rice.     

Analysis of the genome sequence of the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana

The flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana is an important model system for identifying genes and determining their functions. Here we report the analysis of the genomic sequence of Arabidopsis. The sequenced regions cover 115.4 megabases of the 125-megabase genome and extend into centromeric regions. The evolution of Arabidopsis involved a whole-genome duplication, followed by subsequent gene loss and extensive local gene duplications, giving rise to a dynamic genome enriched by lateral gene transfer from a cyanobacterial-like ancestor of the plastid. The genome contains 25,498 genes encoding proteins from 11,000 families, similar to the functional diversity of Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans--the other sequenced multicellular eukaryotes. Arabidopsis has many families of new proteins but also lacks several common protein families, indicating that the sets of common proteins have undergone differential expansion and contraction in the three multicellular eukaryotes. This is the first complete genome sequence of a plant and provides the foundations for more comprehensive comparison of conserved processes in all eukaryotes, identifying a wide range of plant-specific gene functions and establishing rapid systematic ways to identify genes for crop improvement.     

野生稻种质资源利用研究

文章综述了近年来野生稻遗传基础方面的研究及其利用的伟大成就．野生稻是水稻育种的重要基因库．与栽培稻亲缘关系较近的 Ａ Ａ 染色体组型野生稻,其优异基因的转移和利用已取得辉煌成就．非 Ａ Ａ 型野生稻与栽培稻远缘杂交不亲和是阻碍其优异基因利用的障碍．常规杂交和现代生物技术（胚拯救技术和细胞工程）相结合是克服种间屏障的有效方法     

水稻的起源与驯化——来自基因组学的证据

 水稻是世界上最重要的粮食作物, 约1 万年前开始被驯化。由于水稻与其祖先野生种存在一定的遗传分化, 水稻的起源和驯化问题长期存在争议。本文综述了水稻起源和驯化方面的研究成果, 特别是近年来基因组学方面的证据, 认为水稻2 个亚种独立起源于野生祖先种内很早就分化的不同类群, 但一些驯化基因--控制重要农艺性状的基因, 可能首先在一个亚种中被驯化, 然后通过基因渐渗, 扩散到另一个亚种中。因此, 水稻驯化的关键是研究驯化基因的起源和扩散方式。随着大规模基因组测序技术的发展和相应数据分析方法的建立, 在全基因组水平对水稻及其祖先进行大规模分析, 已成为揭示水稻起源与驯化之谜的必由之路。     

The genome sequence and structure of rice chromosome 1

The rice species Oryza sativa is considered to be a model plant because of its small genome size, extensive genetic map, relative ease of transformation and synteny with other cereal crops. Here we report the essentially complete sequence of chromosome 1, the longest chromosome in the rice genome. We summarize characteristics of the chromosome structure and the biological insight gained from the sequence. The analysis of 43.3 megabases (Mb) of non-overlapping sequence reveals 6,756 protein coding genes, of which 3,161 show homology to proteins of Arabidopsis thaliana, another model plant. About 30% (2,073) of the genes have been functionally categorized. Rice chromosome 1 is (G + C)-rich, especially in its coding regions, and is characterized by several gene families that are dispersed or arranged in tandem repeats. Comparison with a draft sequence indicates the importance of a high-quality finished sequence.     

Large-scale analysis of the yeast genome by transposon tagging and gene disruption

Economical methods by which gene function may be analysed on a genomic scale are relatively scarce. To fill this need, we have developed a transposon-tagging strategy for the genome-wide analysis of disruption phenotypes, gene expression and protein localization, and have applied this method to the large-scale analysis of gene function in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we present the largest collection of defined yeast mutants ever generated within a single genetic background--a collection of over 11,000 strains, each carrying a transposon inserted within a region of the genome expressed during vegetative growth and/or sporulation. These insertions affect nearly 2,000 annotated genes, representing about one-third of the 6,200 predicted genes in the yeast genome. We have used this collection to determine disruption phenotypes for nearly 8,000 strains using 20 different growth conditions; the resulting data sets were clustered to identify groups of functionally related genes. We have also identified over 300 previously non-annotated open reading frames and analysed by indirect immunofluorescence over 1,300 transposon-tagged proteins. In total, our study encompasses over 260,000 data points, constituting the largest functional analysis of the yeast genome ever undertaken.     

水稻高亲和力磷酸盐转运蛋白基因的克隆、表达及检测

以水稻（粳稻）cDNA为模板,设计一对特异性引物,获得编码水稻高亲和力磷酸盐转运蛋白基因的全序列,ORF区编码含535个氨基酸的蛋白,具有磷酸盐转运蛋白保守的蛋白激酶C作用位点、N端糖基化位点与酪蛋白激酶Ⅱ作用位点Southern blot分析显示此基因在水稻基因组中具有多个拷贝,与水稻基因组序列分析结果一致Westernblot预测目的基因表达的蛋白大小约为57．7ku．该基因的真核表达研究正在进行中．     

通过遗传转化获得含多基因的水稻转基因纯合植株

利用基因枪法将含有4个不同基因的3个质粒共转化由粳稻品种鄂宜105号和鄂晚5号种子胚诱导的愈伤组织（5－10d龄）。从轰击的986块愈合组织中共再生出169株独立的转基因水稻植株（转化率为17％）。PCR／Southern blot分析显示70％以上的转基因植株含有所有4个基因。GUS组织化学分析、Western blot和或RT－PCR分析表明所有4个基因的共表达率为70％。未观察到任何质粒在整合中存在优势,转基因拷贝数也与基因表达量无关。遗传分析证实外源基因在后代植株中大多以孟德尔方式遗传。从其R1代为3：1孟德尔方式遗传的后代R2代植株中,鉴定含有3个或4个不同基因的转基因纯合植株系。PCR／Southern blot分析证实了这些转基因纯合植株系。这些系的植株具有相似的外源基因表达量。我们证实通过基因枪介导的共转化,结合常规育种方法筛选可以获得含多基因的转基因水稻纯合植株。这项技术为利用基因同时改良作用多个性状提供了一种途径。     

Salt tolerance of transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) with mtlD gene and gutD gene

Southern blot analysis indicated that mtlD gene (encoding mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase) and gutD gene (encoding glucitol-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) had been integrated into the rice genome mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens LBA4404(pBIGM). The expression of the above two genes in transgenic rice plants was demonstrated by Northern blot analysis and enzymatic activity assay. Analysis of sugar alcohol showed that transgenic rice plants could produce and accumulate mannitol and sorbitol. The salt tolerance of transgenic plants was much higher than that of their controls.