Showing papers by "Tetsu Kinoshita published in 2011"

Rice interspecies hybrids show precocious or delayed developmental transitions in the endosperm without change to the rate of syncytial nuclear division.

Abstract: In angiosperms, interspecific crosses often display hybrid incompatibilities that are manifested as under-proliferation or over-proliferation of endosperm. Recent analyses using crosses between Arabidopsis thaliana and its related species with different ploidy levels have shown that interspecific hybridization causes delayed developmental transition and increased mitotic activity in the endosperm. In this study, we investigated endosperm development in interspecific crosses between diploid Oryza species. In a cross between female O. sativa and male O. punctata, we found that the hybrid endosperm was reduced in size and this cross was associated with precocious developmental transition. By contrast, the cross between O. sativa and O. longistaminata generated enlarged hybrid endosperm at the mid-point of seed development and this cross was associated with delayed developmental transition. Subsequently, the hybrid endosperm displayed a shriveled appearance at the seed maturation stage. We found that the accumulation of storage products and the expression patterns of several marker genes were also altered in the hybrid endosperm. By contrast, the rate of syncytial mitotic nuclear divisions was not significantly affected. The gene OsMADS87 showed a maternal origin-specific expression pattern in rice endosperm, in contrast to its Arabidopsis homologue PHERES1, which shows paternal origin-specific expression. OsMADS87 expression was decreased or increased depending on the type of developmental transition change in the hybrid rice endosperm. Our results indicate that one of the interspecies hybridization barriers in Oryza endosperm is mediated by precocious or delayed developmental alterations and de-regulation of OsMADS87, without change to the rate of syncytial mitotic nuclear division in the hybrid endosperm.

The Biotron Breeding System: A Rapid and Reliable Procedure for Genetic Studies and Breeding in Rice

Abstract: Oryza sativa is widely used as a model organism for many aspects of research in monocots and cereals. However, it has certain disadvantages as a model species compared with Arabidopsis thaliana, the eudicot species most widely used in plant sciences: first, it has a long cultivation time; and second, it requires considerably more space for growth. Here, we introduce a biotron breeding system, which allows rapid and reliable rice cultivation using a well-equipped artificial environmental chamber. This system involves use of regulation of CO₂ levels, removal of tillers and embryo rescue to overcome the disadvantages of rice cultivation. The rice cultivars Nipponbare, Koshihikari, Taichung 65 and Kasalath all showed vigorous growth and sufficient seed production in the biotron breeding system with accelerated flowering time. Nipponbare, which was the earliest among these cultivars, flowered at about 50 d after sowing. The life cycle of these plants could be further shortened using an embryo rescue technique on immature seeds at 7 d after pollination, thereby avoiding the lengthy process of seed maturation. Overall, it was possible to shorten the life cycle of Nipponbare to about 2 months under the controlled conditions. Furthermore, controlled crosses, which can be difficult with conventional cultivation methods, were easy to perform as we could control the exact timing of anther dehiscence. Thus, our biotron breeding system offers a valuable new approach to genetic and breeding studies in rice.