Using transfer DNA (T-DNA) with functions of gene trap and gene knockout and activation tagging, a mutant population containing 55,000 lines was generated. Approximately 81% of this population carries 1-2 T-DNA copies per line, and the retrotransposon Tos17 was mostly inactive in this population during tissue culture. A total of 11,992 flanking sequence tags (FSTs) have been obtained and assigned to the rice genome. T-DNA was preferentially ( approximately 80%) integrated into genic regions. A total of 19,000 FSTs pooled from this and another T-DNA tagged population were analyzed and compared with 18,000 FSTs from a Tos17 tagged population. There was difference in preference for integrations into genic, coding, and flanking regions, as well as repetitive sequences and centromeric regions, between T-DNA and Tos17; however, T-DNA integration was more evenly distributed in the rice genome than Tos17. Our T-DNA contains an enhancer octamer next to the left border, expression of genes within genetics distances of 12.5 kb was enhanced. For example, the normal height of a severe dwarf mutant, with its gibberellin 2-oxidase (GA2ox) gene being activated by T-DNA, was restored upon GA treatment, indicating GA2ox was one of the key enzymes regulating the endogenous level of GA. Our T-DNA also contains a promoterless GUS gene next to the right border. GUS activity screening facilitated identification of genes responsive to various stresses and those regulated temporally and spatially in large scale with high frequency. Our mutant population offers a highly valuable resource for high throughput rice functional analyses using both forward and reverse genetic approaches.

Searches of sequenced genomes of diverse organisms revealed that the moss Physcomitrella patens is the most primitive organism possessing oleosin genes. Microscopy examination of Physcomitrella revealed that oil bodies (OBs) were abundant in the photosynthetic vegetative gametophyte and the reproductive spore. Chromatography illustrated the neutral lipids in OBs isolated from the gametophyte to be largely steryl esters and triacylglycerols, and SDS-PAGE showed the major proteins to be oleosins. Reverse transcription-PCR revealed the expression of all three oleosin genes to be tissue specific. This tissue specificity was greatly altered via alternative splicing, a control mechanism of oleosin gene expression unknown in higher plants. During the production of sex organs at the tips of gametophyte branches, the number of OBs in the top gametophyte tissue decreased concomitant with increases in the number of peroxisomes and level of transcripts encoding the glyoxylate cycle enzymes; thus, the OBs are food reserves for gluconeogenesis. In spores during germination, peroxisomes adjacent to OBs, along with transcripts encoding the glyoxylate cycle enzymes, appeared; thus, the spore OBs are food reserves for gluconeogenesis and equivalent to seed OBs. The one-cell-layer gametophyte could be observed easily with confocal microscopy for the subcellular OBs and other structures. Transient expression of various gene constructs transformed into gametophyte cells revealed that all OBs were linked to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), that oleosins were synthesized in extended regions of the ER, and that two different oleosins were colocated in all OBs.Eukaryotes and prokaryotes contain neutral lipids in subcellular droplets as food reserves and/or for other purposes (Hsieh and Huang, 2004;Martin and Parton, 2006;Goodman, 2008;Rajakumari et al., 2008). These lipid droplets are present in seeds, pollens, fruits, and flowers of higher plants; the vegetative and reproductive organs of lower plants, algae, fungi, and nematodes; mammalian organs/tissues, such as mammalian glands and adipose tissues; and bacteria. Among all these lipid droplets, oil bodies (OBs) in seeds are the most prominent and have been extensively studied.Seeds of diverse plant species store oils (triacylglycerols [TAGs]) as food reserves for germination and postgermination growth (Napier et al., 1996;Frandsen et al., 2001;Murphy, 2001;Hsieh and Huang, 2004).The TAGs are present in small subcellular, spherical OBs of approximately 0.5 to 2 mm in diameter. Each OB has a matrix of TAGs surrounded by a layer of phospholipids (PLs) and the structural protein oleosins. The massive oleosins completely cover the surface of the OBs and prevent them from coalescence; so, a large surface area per unit TAG is available for lipase binding and catalysis during germination. Each oleosin molecule has a characteristic long central hydrophobic stretch, which forms a hairpin penetrating into the matrix TAGs for stable anchorage.Other than being present in the seeds of plants, oleos...