Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of rice is an important method that has been widely adopted by many laboratories. However, because current approaches rely on culture systems, routine protocols have been established only in japonica rice, especially those varieties with higher regeneration potential. Some very efficient methods have been developed for japonica varieties that enable high-throughput functional analysis in rice; however, many elite japonica, and most indica, varieties are difficult to regenerate, leading to low transformation efficiencies. Much effort has been devoted to improving transformation efficiency for all rice genotypes. Here, we describe an Agrobacterium-mediated rice transformation method that is applicable to easily cultured varieties in addition to elite japonica varieties that are more difficult to culture. Using this method, transgenic rice plants can be obtained in about 2-3 months with a transformation frequency of 30-50%, both in easily cultured varieties and recalcitrant elite japonica rice.
Molecular genetic studies of plant dwarf mutants have indicated that gibberellin (GA) and brassinosteroid (BR) are two major factors that determine plant height; dwarf mutants that are caused by other defects are relatively rare, especially in monocot species. Here, we report a rice (Oryza sativa) dwarf mutant, dwarf and gladius leaf 1 (dgl1), which exhibits only minimal response to GA and BR. In addition to the dwarf phenotype, dgl1 produces leaves with abnormally rounded tip regions. Positional cloning of DGL1 revealed that it encodes a 60-kD microtubule-severing katanin-like protein. The protein was found to be important in cell elongation and division, based on the observed cell phenotypes. GA biosynthetic genes are up-regulated in dgl1, but the expression of BR biosynthetic genes is not enhanced. The enhanced expression of GA biosynthetic genes in dgl1 is not caused by inappropriate GA signaling because the expression of these genes was repressed by GA 3 treatment, and degradation of the rice DELLA protein SLR1 was triggered by GA 3 in this mutant. Instead, aberrant microtubule organization caused by the loss of the microtubule-severing function of DGL1 may result in enhanced expression of GA biosynthetic genes in that enhanced expression was also observed in a BR-deficient mutant with aberrant microtubule organization. These results suggest that the function of DGL1 is important for cell and organ elongation in rice, and aberrant DGL1-mediated microtubule organization causes up-regulation of gibberellin biosynthetic genes independently of gibberellin signaling.
That plant dwarfism is caused by hormonal defects related to gibberellin and brassinosteroid has been well documented. Other contributing elements, however, have not been elucidated. Here, we report on one of the most severe dwarf mutants of rice, dwarf bamboo shoot 1 (dbs1). Most mutant plants died within 1 month after sowing, but a few (5.2%) survived and grew. Vacuolation enlarged cells in the leaf primordia and seminal root before abortion, which disrupted the organized cell files in these organs. Relative to the severe defects in shoot and root growth, the overall structure of the dbs1 embryo was almost normal. Similarly, initiation and organogenesis of the leaf primordia at the shoot apical meristem and those of the lateral root primordia at the root elongation zone occurred normally. These observations suggest that DBS1 is involved in the growth and development of organs but not in organ initiation or organogenesis. Positional cloning of DBS1 revealed that it encoded a NACK-type kinesin-like protein (OsNACK), homologous to the essential components of a mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade during plant cytokinesis. A BLAST search indicated that DBS1 was the only gene encoding the OsNACK-type protein in the rice genome, and the dbs1 mutant produced only small amounts of the translatable DBS1 mRNA. Thus, we conclude that the dbs1 mutation causes a severe defect in DBS1 function but does not completely shut it down. We discuss the leaky phenotype of dbs1 under the restricted functioning of OsNACK.
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