The cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) phenotype in plants can be reversed by the action of nuclear-encoded fertility restorer (Rf) genes. The molecular mechanism involved in Rf gene-mediated processing of CMS-associated transcripts is unclear, as are the identities of other proteins that may be involved in the CMS-Rf interaction. In this study, we cloned the restorer gene Rf5 for Hong-Lian CMS in rice and studied its fertility restoration mechanism with respect to the processing of the CMS-associated transcript atp6-orfH79. RF5, a pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) protein, was unable to bind to this CMSassociated transcript; however, a partner protein of RF5 (GRP162, a Gly-rich protein encoding 162 amino acids) was identified to bind to atp6-orfH79. GRP162 was found to physically interact with RF5 and to bind to atp6-orfH79 via an RNA recognition motif. Furthermore, we found that RF5 and GRP162 are both components of a restoration of fertility complex (RFC) that is 400 to 500 kD in size and can cleave CMS-associated transcripts in vitro. Evidence that a PPR protein interacts directly with a Gly-rich protein to form a subunit of the RFC provides a new perspective on the molecular mechanisms underlying fertility restoration.

Rice is sensitive to chilling stress, especially at the seedling stage. To elucidate the molecular genetic mechanisms of chilling tolerance in rice, comprehensive gene expressions of two rice genotypes (chilling-tolerant LTH and chilling-sensitive IR29) with contrasting responses to chilling stress were comparatively analyzed. Results revealed a differential constitutive gene expression prior to stress and distinct global transcription reprogramming between the two rice genotypes under time-series chilling stress and subsequent recovery conditions. A set of genes with higher basal expression were identified in chilling-tolerant LTH compared with chilling-sensitive IR29, indicating their possible role in intrinsic tolerance to chilling stress. Under chilling stress, the major effect on gene expression was up-regulation in the chilling- tolerant genotype and strong repression in chilling-sensitive genotype. Early responses to chilling stress in both genotypes featured commonly up-regulated genes related to transcription regulation and signal transduction, while functional categories for late phase chilling regulated genes were diverse with a wide range of functional adaptations to continuous stress. Following the cessation of chilling treatments, there was quick and efficient reversion of gene expression in the chilling-tolerant genotype, while the chilling-sensitive genotype displayed considerably slower recovering capacity at the transcriptional level. In addition, the detection of differentially-regulated TF genes and enriched cis-elements demonstrated that multiple regulatory pathways, including CBF and MYBS3 regulons, were involved in chilling stress tolerance. A number of the chilling-regulated genes identified in this study were co-localized onto previously fine-mapped cold-tolerance-related QTLs, providing candidates for gene cloning and elucidation of molecular mechanisms responsible for chilling tolerance in rice.

Human serum albumin (HSA) is widely used in clinical and cell culture applications. Conventional production of HSA from human blood is limited by the availability of blood donation and the high risk of viral transmission from donors. Here, we report the production of Oryza sativa recombinant HSA (OsrHSA) from transgenic rice seeds. The level of OsrHSA reached 10.58% of the total soluble protein of the rice grain. Large-scale production of OsrHSA generated protein with a purity >99% and a productivity rate of 2.75 g/kg brown rice. Physical and biochemical characterization of OsrHSA revealed it to be equivalent to plasma-derived HSA (pHSA). The efficiency of OsrHSA in promoting cell growth and treating liver cirrhosis in rats was similar to that of pHSA. Furthermore, OsrHSA displays similar in vitro and in vivo immunogenicity as pHSA. Our results suggest that a rice seed bioreactor produces cost-effective recombinant HSA that is safe and can help to satisfy an increasing worldwide demand for human serum albumin.

The hybrid rice (Oryza sativa L.) breeding that was initiated in China in the 1970s led to a great improvement in rice productivity. In general, it increases the grain yield by over 20% to the inbred rice varieties, and now hybrid rice has been widely introduced into Africa, Southern Asia and America. These hybrid varieties are generated through either three-line hybrid and two-line hybrid systems; the former is derived from cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) and the latter derived from genic male sterility (GMS). There are three major types of CMS (HL, BT and WA) and two types of GMS (photoperiod-sensitive (PGMS) and temperature-sensitive (TGMS)). The BT-and HL-type CMS genes are characterized as orf79 and orfH79, which are chimeric toxic genes derived from mitochondrial rearrangement. Rf3 for CMS-WA is located on chromosome 1, while Rf1, Rf4, Rf5 and Rf6 correspond to CMS-BT, CMS-WA and CMS-HL, located on chromosome 10. The Rf1 gene for BT-CMS has been cloned recently, and encodes a mitochondriatargeted PPR protein. PGMS is thought to be controlled by two recessive loci on chromosomes 7 and 12, whereas nine recessive alleles have been identified for TGMS and mapped on different chromosomes. Attention is still urgently needed to resolve the molecular complexity of male sterility to assist rice breeding.Key words: hybrid rice; male sterility; Oryza sativa.Li SQ, Yang DC, Zhu YG (2007). Characterization and use of male sterility in hybrid rice breeding. J. Integr. Plant Biol. 49(6), 791−804. Available online at www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/toc/jipb, www.jipb.netAs one of the most ancient grain crops, rice is a staple food for people due to it being high in carbohydrates, low in fat, and rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals. It has been used as a major food for over ten thousand years. It has been cultivated in 113 countries. It is estimated that half of the world's population subsists wholly or partially on rice. In 2001, about 517.9 thousand million kg out of 580 thousand million kg rice were directly consumed as foods around the world. Although about 90 percent of rice is grown and consumed in Asia, the quantity of rice consumption in Sub-Sahara Africa has doubled in the last two decades (FAOSTAT) from about 8.2 thousand million kg of paddy rice in 1980 to 16.7 thousand million kg in 2000. The rapid increase of rice consumption is mainly due to the expansion of human population in the developing countries. It is predicted that the population in the world will increase continually from the current 6 billion to 8 billion in 2030. According to documents from FAOSTAT, the annual loss of land for other uses is estimated to be about 10 to 35 million hm 2 /year, half of this coming from cropland. Facing the challenge of population growth and cropland reduction, it is obvious that the only way to solve this problem is to improve the yield of cereal crops namely, rice, wheat and corn etc. (Yuan and Peng 2005). Fortunately, the importance of rice to feed the population of the world is recognized by the Uni...

We exploited the newly developed amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) technique to study the polymorphism, distribution and inheritance of AFLP markers with a doubled haploid rice population derived from 'IR64'/'Azucena'. Using only 20 pairs of primer combinations, we detected 945 AFLP bands of which 208 were polymorphic. All 208 AFLP markers were mapped and distributed over all 12 chromosomes. When these were compared with RFLP markers already mapped in the population, we found the AFLP markers to be highly polymorphic in rice and to follow Mendelian segregation. As linkage map of rice can be generated rapidly with AFLP markers they will be very useful for marker-assisted backcrossing.