New cultivars with very erect leaves, which increase light capture for photosynthesis and nitrogen storage for grain filling, may have increased grain yields. Here we show that the erect leaf phenotype of a rice brassinosteroid-deficient mutant, osdwarf4-1, is associated with enhanced grain yields under conditions of dense planting, even without extra fertilizer. Molecular and biochemical studies reveal that two different cytochrome P450s, CYP90B2/OsDWARF4 and CYP724B1/D11, function redundantly in C-22 hydroxylation, the rate-limiting step of brassinosteroid biosynthesis. Therefore, despite the central role of brassinosteroids in plant growth and development, mutation of OsDWARF4 alone causes only limited defects in brassinosteroid biosynthesis and plant morphology. These results suggest that regulated genetic modulation of brassinosteroid biosynthesis can improve crops without the negative environmental effects of fertilizers.

SummarySeveral approaches have recently been adopted to improve Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of rice, both to generate the large number of T-DNA insertion plants needed for functional analysis of the rice genome, and for production of rice with additional agronomical value. However, about 3 months of in vitro culture is still required for isolation of transgenic rice plants. Here, we report the competency of scutellum tissue from 1-day pre-cultured seeds for Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Furthermore, early infection of rice seeds with Agrobacterium enhanced efficient selection of transformed calli. Using our system, we successfully regenerated transgenic rice plantlets within a month of the start of the aseptic culture of mature seeds. Our new system should reduce the somaclonal variation accompanying prolonged culture of rice cells in the dedifferentiated state and facilitate the molecular breeding of rice.

We examined the function and intracellular localization of the product of the Na(+)/H(+) antiporter gene (OsNHX1) cloned from rice (Oryza sativa). OsNHX1 has the ability to suppress Na(+), Li(+) and hygromycin sensitivity of yeast nhx1 mutants and sensitivity to a high K(+) concentration, a novel phenotype of the nhx1 mutants. Analysis using rice cells expressing a fusion protein of OsNHX1 and green fluorescent protein and Western blot analysis using antibodies specific for OsNHX1 confirmed the localization of OsNHX1 on the tonoplasts. These results indicate that the OsNHX1 gene encodes a vacuolar (Na(+), K(+))/H(+) antiporter. Treatment with high concentrations of NaCl and KCl increased the transcript levels of OsNHX1 in rice roots and shoots. In addition, overexpression of OsNHX1 improved the salt tolerance of transgenic rice cells and plants. These results suggest that OsNHX1 on the tonoplasts plays important roles in the compartmentation of Na(+) and K(+) highly accumulated in the cytoplasm into the vacuoles, and the amount of the antiporter is one of the most important factors determining salt tolerance in rice.

A major catabolic pathway for gibberellin (GA) is initiated by 2␤-hydroxylation, a reaction catalyzed by GA 2-oxidase. We have isolated and characterized a cDNA, designated Oryza sativa GA 2-oxidase 1 (OsGA2ox1) from rice (Oryza sativa L. cv Nipponbare) that encodes a GA 2-oxidase. The encoded protein, produced by heterologous expression in Escherichia coli, converted GA 1 , GA 4 , GA 9 , GA 20 , and GA 44 to the corresponding 2␤-hydroxylated products GA 8 , GA 34 , GA 51 , GA 29 , and GA 98 , respectively. Ectopic expression of the OsGA2ox1 cDNA in transgenic rice inhibited stem elongation and the development of reproductive organs. These transgenic plants were deficient in endogenous GA 1 . These results indicate that OsGA2ox1 encodes a GA 2-oxidase, which is functional not only in vitro but also in vivo. OsGA2ox1 was expressed in shoot apex and roots but not in leaves and stems. In situ hybridization analysis revealed that OsGA2ox1 mRNA was localized in a ring at the basal region of leaf primordia and young leaves. This ring-shaped expression around the shoot apex was drastically decreased after the phase transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. It was absent in the floral meristem, but it was still present in the lateral meristem that remained in the vegetative phase. These observations suggest that OsGA2ox1 controls the level of bioactive GAs in the shoot apical meristem; therefore, reduction in its expression may contribute to the early development of the inflorescence meristem.

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The three-dimensional atomic configuration of amorphous Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 and GeTe were derived by reverse Monte Carlo simulation with synchrotron-radiation x-ray diffraction data. The authors found that amorphous Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 can be regarded as "even-numbered ring structure," because the ring statistics is dominated by four-and six-fold rings analogous to the crystal phase. On the other hand, the formation of Ge-Ge homopolar bonds in amorphous GeTe constructs both odd-and even-numbered rings. They believe that the unusual ring statistics of amorphous Ge 2 Sb 2 Te 5 is the key for the fast crystallization speed of the material.

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