Studies on the missing link between stay green and adaptation to environment

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K19343
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 44:Biology at cellular to organismal levels, and related fields
• Research Institution: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: Sakamoto Wataru 岡山大学, 資源植物科学研究所, 教授 (20222002)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 形質評価 / QTL / ソルガム / 葉の老化 / 遺伝育種

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Stay green is a physiological trait that is associated with nutrient redistribution during plant growth, but its precise role in adaptation to environmental stresses remain unclear. This study aims in genetically dissecting the missing link between stay green and its contribution to environments such as drought, in a large biomass crop sorghum. In this study, we employed Japanese landrace Takakibi, showing non-stay-green phenotype. A recombinant inbred population generated from the cross between Takakibi and stay-green BTx623 was used to characterize QTL associated with leaf greenness under natural growing condition. The linkage analysis allowed us to identify one QTL in chromosome 5. This gene appeared to be deleted in Takakibi, and we further investigated this gene as to whether it is responsible for the stay green trait.

Free Research Field

植物生理学・遺伝学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

秋になるとポプラの葉は落葉し、水田は一斉に黄金色となり実りの季節を迎える。「葉が枯れる」という現象は我々に最も身近な風景である一方、植物が自然環境に適応するための重要な生存戦略を具現している。植物にとって、葉がシンクとなり光合成を続けて栄養生長を続けるか、ソースとなって養分を提供して枯れていくかは、生存や繁栄を決定するトレードオフであり、この「葉の老化」制御を遺伝素因として明らかにすることは、バイオマスなど植物の利活用、あるいは資源保全などへ貢献する研究基盤となる。