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Public release date: 13-Sep-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Natasha Pinol
npinol@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
System of 3 genes prevents hybrid rice from reproducing, new study shows
This release is also available in Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.Researchers have identified a set of three genes that are responsible for hybrid sterility in rice, or the inability of many hybrid rice species to pass their genes on to the next generation. These findings inform a model that suggests how such hybrid sterility is maintained across rice species, and they may lead to the genetic improvement of rice as a food stock.
The research is published in the 14 September issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.
When two different species mate, like a horse and a donkey, their hybrid offspringa mule in this exampleis born reproductively sterile. But, this phenomenon, known as hybrid sterility, isn't limited to the animal kingdom: Plenty of plants produce viable hybrids that are genetic dead-ends as well.
Now, Jiangyi Yang and colleagues from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China, along with other researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, have investigated the hybrid sterility that results between the indica and japonica subspecies of the cultivated rice, Oryza sativa.
The researchers honed in on a specific region of the rice chromosome, S5, which they had previously associated with hybrid sterility. They found three tightly linked genesORF3, ORF4, and ORF5that control fertility in indica-japonica rice hybrids. The ORF5 gene functions as a killer and ORF4 partners with it while ORF3 works against them, taking on the role of a protector, they say.
Apparently, among indica and japonica subspecies of cultivated rice, the killer gene and its partner work together to kill female gametes, or eggs, while the protector gene actively tries to save them. Specifically, the researchers suggest that ORF5 produces a molecule that is sensed by ORF4 and leads to an uptick in stress on a cell's endoplasmic reticulum. That stress eventually activates ORF3, which works to stabilize and protect the endoplasmic reticulum, they say.
This kind of killer-protector system underlies the hybrid sterility between these two species of cultivated rice, according to the study. Yang and the other researchers suggest that non-lethal combinations of ORF4 and ORF5 may allow indica-japonica hybrids to pass their genes on to subsequent generationsand that overcoming this hybrid sterility in rice could lead to more desirable crops in the future.
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The report by Yang et al. was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation, the 863 Project, and the 111 Project of China. D.S. Brar of the International Rice Research Institute provided the rice seeds.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 13-Sep-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Natasha Pinol
npinol@aaas.org
202-326-6440
American Association for the Advancement of Science
System of 3 genes prevents hybrid rice from reproducing, new study shows
This release is also available in Chinese on EurekAlert! Chinese.Researchers have identified a set of three genes that are responsible for hybrid sterility in rice, or the inability of many hybrid rice species to pass their genes on to the next generation. These findings inform a model that suggests how such hybrid sterility is maintained across rice species, and they may lead to the genetic improvement of rice as a food stock.
The research is published in the 14 September issue of the journal Science, which is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.
When two different species mate, like a horse and a donkey, their hybrid offspringa mule in this exampleis born reproductively sterile. But, this phenomenon, known as hybrid sterility, isn't limited to the animal kingdom: Plenty of plants produce viable hybrids that are genetic dead-ends as well.
Now, Jiangyi Yang and colleagues from Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China, along with other researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, have investigated the hybrid sterility that results between the indica and japonica subspecies of the cultivated rice, Oryza sativa.
The researchers honed in on a specific region of the rice chromosome, S5, which they had previously associated with hybrid sterility. They found three tightly linked genesORF3, ORF4, and ORF5that control fertility in indica-japonica rice hybrids. The ORF5 gene functions as a killer and ORF4 partners with it while ORF3 works against them, taking on the role of a protector, they say.
Apparently, among indica and japonica subspecies of cultivated rice, the killer gene and its partner work together to kill female gametes, or eggs, while the protector gene actively tries to save them. Specifically, the researchers suggest that ORF5 produces a molecule that is sensed by ORF4 and leads to an uptick in stress on a cell's endoplasmic reticulum. That stress eventually activates ORF3, which works to stabilize and protect the endoplasmic reticulum, they say.
This kind of killer-protector system underlies the hybrid sterility between these two species of cultivated rice, according to the study. Yang and the other researchers suggest that non-lethal combinations of ORF4 and ORF5 may allow indica-japonica hybrids to pass their genes on to subsequent generationsand that overcoming this hybrid sterility in rice could lead to more desirable crops in the future.
###
The report by Yang et al. was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation, the 863 Project, and the 111 Project of China. D.S. Brar of the International Rice Research Institute provided the rice seeds.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science as well as Science Translational Medicine and Science Signaling. AAAS was founded in 1848, and includes some 261 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of 1 million. The non-profit AAAS is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/aaft-grs090712.php
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