In rice, tillering is an important trait determining yield. To study tillering at the agricultural and molecular aspects, we have examined a spontaneous rice mutant that showed reduction in the number of culms. The mutant was derived from a F6 line of the cross of Junambyeo*4 / IR72. It could produce, on average, 4 tillers per hill in the paddy field while wild-type plants usually have 15. Except the reduced culm numbers, they also show pale green phenotypes. The phenotypes of this mutant were co-segregated as the monogenic Mendelian ratio (χ2 = 0.002, p = 0.969). In order to locate a gene responsible for the rcn phenotype, the mutant with the japonica genetic background was crossed with Milyang21 of the indica background. Bulked segregant analysis was used for rapid determination of chromosomal location. Three SSR markers (RM551, RM8213, and RM16467) on chromosome 4 were genetically associated with the mutant phenotype. Each of the 217 F2 plants was genotyped with simple sequence length polymorphisms. The data showed that RM16572 on chromosome 4 was the closest marker that showed perfect co-segregation among the F2 population. We suggest the new rcn gene studied here name as rcn10t because there was no report which exhibit a rcn phenotype with a pleiotropic effect of pale green (chlorophyll deficiency), and mapped at same position on chromosome 4.

• Un-Sang Yeo(Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute, NICS, Milyang, 627-830, Korea.) Corresponding author
• Jong-Hee Lee(Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute, NICS, Milyang, 627-830, Korea.)
• Choon-Song Kim(Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute, NICS, Milyang, 627-830, Korea.)
• Meong-Gi Jeon(Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute, NICS, Milyang, 627-830, Korea.)
• Tae-Yong Oh(Gyeong Sang National University)
• Chang-Deok Han(Gyeong Sang National University)
• Mun-Sik Shin(Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute, NICS, Milyang, 627-830, Korea.)
• Byeong-Geun Oh(Yeongnam Agricultural Research Institute, NICS, Milyang, 627-830, Korea.)