Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on January 20, 2007
Journal of Heredity 2007 98(2):169-172; doi:10.1093/jhered/esl069
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brief Communications |
Genetic Interaction between 2 Tillering Genes, Reduced Culm Number 1 (rcn1) and Tillering Dwarf Gene d3, in Rice
From the Department of Crop Science Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Nishi 2-5 Inada-cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido, 080-8555 Japan (Yasuno, Yasui, and Kato); and the Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Kita 9 Nishi 9, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8589 Japan (Takamure)
Address correspondence to K. Kato at the address above, or e-mail: kiyoaki{at}obihiro.ac.jp.
Mutant genes, reduced culm number 1 (rcn1) and bunketsuwaito tillering dwarf (d3), affect tiller number in rice (Oryza sativa L.) in opposite directions. The d3 mutant was reported to increase tiller number and reduce plant stature. Our objective was to compare the phenotype of the d3rcn1 double mutant with each single mutant and parental rice cultivar "Shiokari" and to clarify whether the Rcn1 gene interacted with the D3 gene. We recovered a new rcn1 mutant from Shiokari and developed d3rcn1 double mutant with Shiokari genetic background. A new rcn1 mutant, designated as "S-97-61" exhibited a reduction in tiller number and plant stature to about the same level as the previously reported original rcn1 mutant. Three near-isogenic lines, rcn1 mutant, d3 mutant, and d3rcn1 double mutant, were grown together with the parental Shiokari. The reduction in tillering by the rcn1 mutation was independent of the d3 genotype, and tillering number of d3rcn1 double mutant was between those of the d3 and rcn1 mutants. These results demonstrated that the Rcn1 gene was not involved in the D3-associated pathway in tillering control.
Corresponding Editor: Reid Palmer
Received October 17, 2006
Accepted November 30, 2006