The objective of this study was to map gene/QTL for photoblastism in a weedy rice (photoblastic rice: PBR) using DNA markers. Light-induced effect on germination of seeds was compared among three accessions (Oryza sativa L.), PBR, Milyang 23 and Ilpum. Results showed that PBR seeds started to show photoblastism during seed development, different from Ilpum and Milyang 23. Frequency distribution of germination in the F4 lines from crosses between Ilpum and PBR and, Milyang 23 and PBR revealed bimodal distributions suggesting that photoblastism was controlled by a few genes. Bulked segregant analysis using F4 populations derived from the above two crosses was conducted to identify gene/QTL for photoblastism. Two QTL were identified on chromosomes 1 and 12 explaining 11.2 and 12.8% of the phenotypic variance, respectively. Two QTL were further mapped between two SSR markers, RM8260 and RM246 on chromosome 1, and between RM270 and 1103 on chromosome 12. It is noteworthy that two QTL for photoblastism were colocalized with the QTL for seed dormancy reported in the previous QTL studies. The clustering of two genes for photoblastism and dormancy possibly indicates that these regions constitute rice phytochrome gene clusters related to germination. Because PBR has a low degree of dormancy, a pleiotropic effect of a single gene controlling dormancy and photoblastism can be ruled out. The linked markers will provide the foundation for positional cloning of the gene.

• Hyun Sook Lee
• Sang Nag Ahn
• Kazuhiro Sasaki
• Nam Jin Chung
• Kwan Sam Choi
• Tadashi Sato