2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Positional cloning of flowering time QTLs conferring adaptability to wide cultivation area in Japanese rice cultivars.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20780008
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Breeding science
Research Institution	National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences
Principal Investigator	HORI Kiyosumi National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, QTLゲノム育種研究センター, 任期付研究員 (50442827)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2009
Keywords	イネ / 出穂期 / QTL / コシヒカリ / ポジショナルクローニング
Research Abstract	Flowering time of rice cultivars has diversified to adjust to the growing season in each local cultivation area. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis revealed that two QTLs (Hd16 and Hd17) were involved in the difference of flowering time between the rice japonica cultivars Koshihikari and Nipponbare. High-resolution mapping and sequence analysis of the genomic regions enabled us to focus on candidate genes for each QTL. Compared to control lines, flowering time in transgenic plants with a genomic fragment containing the Hd16 candidate gene was changed under short and long day-length conditions. Significant digenic interaction of Hd16 was observed with Hd2, which was previously identified as a flowering time QTL in rice.