China
June 3, 2009
Source:
Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences
As Yuan Longping's superhybrid rice popularize since the 1970s
in China, advantage of hybridization finds wide application in
agricultural production and helps a lot in solving the country's
food problems. However, the hereditary basis and molecular
mechanism of superhybrid rice remain a scientific mystery.
Light was shed on the mystery with the publication on hereditary
basis and molecular mechanism of superhybrid rice LYP9 and its
parents on PNAS.
The project is led by Zhu Lihuang, Zhu Zhen, both from State Key
Laboratory of Plant Genomics and National Center for Plant Gene
Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, CAS,
Yu Jun from Key Laboratory of Genome Sciences and Information,
Beijing Institute of Genomics, CAS, and Yuan Longping, from
National Hybrid Rice Research and Development Center.
They investigated the transcriptome profiles in developing
leaves and panicles of superhybrid rice LYP9 and its parental
cultivars 93-11 and PA64s.
Clustering results showed that the F1 hybrid's expression
profiles resembled those of its parental lines more than what
lies between the 2 parental lines. Out of the total gene set,
7,078 genes are shared by all sampled tissues and 3,926 genes
(10.6% of the total gene set) are differentially expressed genes
(DG).
As researchers divided DG into those between the parents (DGPP)
and between the hybrid and its parents (DGHP), the comparative
results showed that genes in the categories of energy metabolism
and transport are enriched in DGHP rather than in DGPP.
"These findings provide a starting point for uncovering its
mechanistic basis in one of the world's most important food
crops", Cell, one of the most cited scientific journals,
especially in the Molecular Biology and Genetics category, said
in its column of Leading Edge.
Yuan Longping, a Chinese agricultural scientist, is known for
developing the first hybrid rice varieties in the 1970s. His
"hybrid rice" has since been grown in dozens of countries in
Africa, America, and Asia -providing a robust food source in
high famine risk areas. It is estimated that hybrid rice helps
to feed tens of millions of population around the globe, Honored
as "The Father of Hybrid Rice", Yuan is hailed as a national
hero of China and has received numerous national and
international awards. |
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