Expression profiling was conducted with the Oryza sativa alternative splicing detecting microarray v.4 (OsASDM). Probe features are designed based on rice genome IRGSP_1.0 (http://rapdb.dna.affrc.go.jp/ ). The genome contains 37,868 genes. Among these 5,254 genes have alternative spliced sites, 11,938 transcripts. In the microarray, a total of 41,953 transcripts are covered from all the loci and 9112 alternative spliced transcripts. Four 60-nt long probes were designed from each transcript starting 60 bp ahead the end of stop codon and with shifting 30 bp so 4 probes cover 150 bp in the 3’ region of the gene. Genes from chloroplast (123) and mitochondria (74) and selection markers such as gfp, gus, hyg, bar, and kan are included. In total, he 125,956 probes were designed. To find organ specific transcripts RNA was prepared from leaf, root, panicle at 1 cm (P1cm). The signal intensity files were analyzed with limma package. Background correction and normalization were performed with libraries in the package. 13,486 genes are organ specific and 1,856 transcripts are alternatively spliced. Transcripts that specifically alternatively spliced in leaf are Os02t0197600-02_UE; Chlorophyll a-b binding protein 8, Os11t0707000-01_UE; Ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, Os12t0291100-01_UE; ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase small subunit. Transcripts that specifically alternatively spliced in root are Os03t0669100-02_UE; Deoxyuridine 5’-triphosphate nucleotidohydrolase, Transcripts that specifically alternatively spliced in tissues at P1cm are Os11t0210300-02_UE; Alcohol dehydrogenase 1, Os04t0631200-02_UE; Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase. Os03t0669100-02_UE ; Deoxyuridine 5’-triphosphate nucleotidohydrolase, Os11t0210300-02_UE ; Alcohol dehydrogenase 1, Os04t0631200-02_UE; Xyloglucan endotransglycosylase. These results show that OsASDM could be used to find alternatively spliced gene at ease.

The effect of seasonality is one of the most significant external sources of variation affecting cambial activity and the development of newly divided cells, and therefore influencing stem growth of trees. Here, we investigated changes in the seasonal concentrations of metabolites of current-year stem tissues in 6-year-old Pinus densiflora at June, August, and October. 76, 75, and 78 metabolites were assigned at June, August, and October by GC/MS. Among these compounds, 55 metabolites were commonly found in all three times, and they were divided into six groups according to the variation of concentrations in each times. Among 56 metabolites, the concentrations of three inositol-methylated derivatives, myo-inositol, ononitol, and pinitol in current-year stem tissues at August were significantly correlated with the heights of nursery-grown trees. Furthermore, we found that such metabolites were significantly correlated with stem diameter at 27 years for two consecutive years. Therefore we suggest that seasonal differences in the contents of inositol derivatives may explain much of the natural variation seen for tree stem size in even-aged pine forests. And these have the potential as metabolic markers of inherently rapidly growing trees in the early selection of those conifer families.

Soybean is a short-day plant, which means short day length promotes flowering. So far nine major loci, E1 to E8 and J, affecting the timing of flowering and maturity have been genetically identified in soybean. To understand the roles of soybean flowering genes in photoperiod-dependent flowering time control in soybean, we analyzed not only expression patterns of E1, E2, E3 and E4 genes as well as soybean FT homologs, including GmFT2a, GmFT5a and GmFT4, but also structural variation of E1, E2, E3, and E4 genes in various soybean accessions exhibiting a broad range of flowering time. The mRNA level of GmFT2a and GmFT5a was low in late flowering accessions, but high in late flowering accessions. In contrast, GmFT4 exhibited opposite expression pattern to those of GmFT2a and GmFT5a. Structural variation of E1, E2, E3 and E4 gene in these accessions revealed that early and moderate flowering accessions contained non-functional alleles of E1, E2, E3 and E4 genes in their genome. These results suggested that expression patterns of GmFT2a GmFT5a and GmFT4 would be important factor determining flowering time in soybean and allelic variation and genetic combination of upstream E1, E2, E3, and E4 genes would be more important in soybean flowering time control than their gene expression patterns.

Efficient infiltration of water through cell membranes is arbitrated by a family of transmembrane water channels called aquaporins (AQPs). Aquaporin belongs to a highly conserved group of membrane proteins called major intrinsic proteins that facilitate the transport of water and a variety of low molecular weight solutes across biological membranes,which is essential for plants to survive in stress conditions. This study identified 59 BrAQP genes from B. rapa database and Br135K microarray dataset, which was formed by applying low-temperature stresses to contrasting Chinese cabbage two inbreed lines, Chiifu and Kenshin. Based on phylogenetic analyses of BrAQPs revealed four distinct subfamilies, such as plasma membrane intrinsic proteins (PIP), tonoplast intrinsic proteins (TIP), NOD26-like intrinsic proteins (NIP), small basic intrinsic proteins (SIP) with aquaporin of Tomato and Arabidopsis thaliana. All BrAQP genes were firstly examined through homology study with existing biotic and abiotic stress resistance-related aquaporin genes of other plant species and found a high degree of homology. We selected PIP subfamily genes for expression analysis based on microarray data with high and differential transcript abundance levels and homology study with stress related aquaporin genes of other plant species. In our study, we characterized all B. rapa aquaporin genes and understanding the BrPIP subfamily gene function in plants under various environmental stimuli, the expressions of BrPIP genes under various abiotic stress conditions including cold, drought, salinity, water logging, ABA treatment and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Conglutinans infection were investigated by a quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR analysis. In our expression analysis, 4 BrPIP genes showed responsive expression against F. oxysporum f. sp. Conglutinans infection. The selected genes showed an organ-specific expression, and 12 out of 22 BrPIP genes were differentially expressed in Chiifu compared to Kenshin under cold stresses. Only 7 genes showed up regulation under drought stress and incase of salt stress 17 BrPIP genes were more responsiveness. Additionally, 18 BrPIP genes were up regulated by ABA treatment and all BrPIP genes showed down regulation under water logging stress. Together with expression and bioinformatic analyses, our results provides novel basis to allocate the stress-related biological function to each PIP gene.

Carotenoids are vital pigments responsible for yellow, orange and red color in plants. In Capsicum, capsanthin-capsorubin synthase (CCS), phytoene synthase (PSY), β-Carotene hydroxylase (CRTZ-2) and lycopene β-cyclase (LCYB) were identified to be involved in the carotenoids synthesis pathway. Previously molecular markers based on the CCS and PSY genes have been developed to distinguish fruit colors in pepper. However these markers can distinguish fruit colors of limited pepper genotypes. Therefore, there is need of developing additional markers for accurate prediction of fruit colors using molecular markers. In this study carotenoids contents of 16 pepper accessions were analyzed and the CCS, PSY, CRTZ-2, LCYB genes were sequenced to identify the genes affecting the fruit color. Among all the analyzed carotenoids, capsanthin was accumulated in much higher amount in red and orange fruits (1100-2500 mAU·min and 30-500 mAU·min respectively) while violaxanthin (20-1200 mAU·min) was accumulated more in yellow fruits. Sequence analysis revealed that deletions and two frame shift mutations in CCS gene for yellow accessions. Frame shift mutations of the PSY gene were detected in two orange accessions. These results show that mutations in CCS and PSY genes affect the fruit colors of pepper, and markers can be developed using mutations of these genes.

Capsicum annuum ‘Bukang’ is a resistant variety to Cucumber mosaic virus isolate-P0 (CMV-P0), CMV-P1 can overcome the CMV resistance of ‘Bukang’ due to mutations in Helicase (Hel) domain of CMV RNA1. To identify host factors involved in CMV-P1 infection, a yeast two-hybrid system derived from C. annuum ‘Bukang’ cDNA library was used. A total of 156 potential clones interacting with the CMV-P1 RNA helicase domain were isolated. These clones were confirmed by β-galactosidase filter lift assay, PCR screening and sequence analysis. Then, we narrowed the ten candidate host genes which are related to virus infection, replication or virus movement. To elucidate functions of these candidate genes, each gene was silenced by virus induced gene silencing in Nicotiana benthamiana. The silenced plants were then inoculated with green fluorescent protein (GFP) tagged CMV-P1. Virus accumulations in silenced plants were assessed by monitoring GFP fluorescence and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Among ten genes, silencing of formate dehydrogenase (FDH) or calreticulin-3 (CRT3) resulted in weak GFP signals of CMV-P1 in the inoculated or upper leaves. These results suggested that FDH and CRT3 are essential for CMV infection in plants. The importance of FDH and CRT3 in CMV-P1 accumulation was also validated by the accumulation level of CMV coat protein confirmed by ELISA. Altogether, these results demonstrate that FDH and CRT3 are required for CMV-P1 infection in plants.

Pepper (Capsicum spp.) germplasm shows diverse phenotypic variations including fruit size, color, pungency, and many other horticultural traits. Traditional markers including SSR, AFLP, and RFLP have been used to construct genetic maps using biparental populations. However to assess the genetic diversity of large number of germplasm, a robust and rapid marker development and genotyping approach is needed. We used six pepper accessions including C. annuum, C. chinense, C. baccatum and C. frutescens and performed genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS). To select the most appropriate condition, eight different 2 bp selective nucleotides were used to make GBS libraries. Selective nucleotide ‘OO’ showed the largest number of reads in all samples, and 11,026 to 47,957 high-quality SNPs were called in six accessions. When C. annuum ‘CM334’ genome sequence was used as a reference, C. annuum showed the smallest number of SNPs, while C. baccatum which was known to be a different Capsicum clade showed the largest number of SNPs. Pepper core collection chosen to represent the genetic diversity of whole germplasm will be genotyped by high-density SNPs developed from GBS. We will perform genome-wide association study (GWAS) using genetic and phenotypic variation to identify the functional genetic loci controlling horticultural traits.

Ionizing radiation directly and indirectly affects gene expression within the plant genome. To access the physiological response of rice to different types of ionizing radiation, rice seeds were exposed to gamma-ray and ion beam radiation. Exposure to ionizing radiation dramatically decreased the shoot length compared with non-irradiated plants. Fluorescence-activated-cell-sorting (FACs) was used to measure DNA contents. There were significant correlations of dose-dependent between irradiated plant and non-irradiated plant. The radicals induced by the ionizing radiation in the plant could be observed by electron spin resonance (ESR). It was confirmed that the number of free radicals in cell was greatly increased all irradiated plants than non-irradiated plant. A significant positive correlation was shown between ionizing radiation dose and signal intensity. In order to determine the Genetic diversity, AFLP analysis was conducted with the irradiated plant and non-irradiated plant. Based on band patterns, the cluster analysis was conducted to evaluate the genetic variation by using the UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Grouping Method of Averages). Genetic diversity of irradiated plants by low dose ion beam was the closest non-irradiated plant and irradiated by high dose gamma-ray was the furthest from non-irradiated. We describe the detailed methods of ionizing irradiation and discuss its applications in genetic research as well as plant breeding.

The objective of the study was to identify 52 Asian pear accessions, two primary pear species, and one reference pear Asian pear with 12 microsatellite markers to maintain pear germplasm collection. The number of alleles of 12 microsatellites detected ranged from eight at CH03d12 to 18 at CH01f07. Gene diversity ranged from 0.7053 at CH01d08 to 0.9224 at CH01f07. The lowest value of PIC was 0.6600 at CH01d08 and the highest was 0.9171 at CH01f07. A group consisting of ‘Ooharabeni,’ ‘Bartlett,’ and P. calleryana was out-grouped and served as a reference to determine the relationship among Asian pear accessions. Except for the out-group, 50 Asian pears were segregated into two groups. Group I was divided in two small groups. Each small group was characterized by P. bretschneideri and P. ussuriensis, respectively. Group II was characterized as P. pyrifolia, and the group was divided in four small groups. The eigenvalue, difference, proportion, and cumulative of six principal components based on PCA to 12 microsatellite. The eigenvalue of the first principal components was 5.5850. The proportion of the first principal component was 0.9308. The cumulative value of the first two principal components was 0.9801. Consequently, nearly all of the results were elucidated by the two principal components. The results from analysis of the standard set of microsatellites in this study may be used as basic materials for the management of Asian pear germplasm collections, and the data might be useful in the development of a core collection.

As one of the most severe stress conditions, drought strongly affects the plant growth and productivity. OsPIL1, a gene encoding a rice Phytochrome Interacting Factor (PIF)-Like transcription factor, was found to be down-regulated under drought stress condition. OsPIL1 shows a diurnal expression pattern and known to be involved in regulation of plant height. However, the mechanisms of down-regulation of OsPIL1 expression under stress conditions are remained unclear. In this study, the expression of PIF4 and PIF5, the most homologous genes of OsPIL1 in Arabidopsis, was analyzed and the expression of these genes were found to be oscillated in circadian manner and down-regulated in response to drought and low temperature similar to that of OsPIL1. To identify the regions involved in the responses to drought, low temperature and diurnal cycle, the promoter analysis of PIF4 was performed using transgenic Arabidopsis. Further promoter analysis is ongoing to specify regulatory regions in more detail.

Low temperature germinability (LTG) is an important trait for breeding of varieties for use in direct-seeding rice production systems. Although rice (Oryza sativa L.) is generally sensitive to low temperatures, genetic variation for LTG exists and several quantitative trait loci (QTLs) have been reported. The objective of this study was to develop and employ high-efficiency molecular markers for evaluation of LTG in rice germplasm. A panel of japonica rice accessions (n=180) from temperate regions in Asia was evaluated for LTG and genotyped with markers from regions previously reported to harbor other LTG QTLs. ANOVA revealed that four markers on chromosome 2, 4, and 11 from previously reported QTLs showed highly significant value (p < 1.0e-04) and their R2 ranged 0.083 (qLTG11-1) to 0.190 (qLTG4b-1). An association analysis was conducted using SNP data generated by sequencing of the panel. Eight SNP markers were found to be significantly associated with LTG using general and mixed linear models. Three SNP-based CAPS and dCAPS markers from these results were developed and showed higher accuracy in predicting sensitive LTG germplasm. These new LTG markers will be useful for molecular evaluation of germplasm, particularly to identify sensitive or weak LTG accessions.

잔디는 공원과 정원, 학교운동장, 묘지, 골프장, 스포츠경기장, 도로변과 같이 다양한 장소에 식재되고 있는 주요 작물이다. 이러한 잔디는 생육적온에 따라 크게 난지형 잔디와 한지형 잔디로 구분된다. 그 중 한국잔디(Zoysiagrass)는 대표적인 난지형 잔디로, 들잔디(Zoysia japonica)와 금잔디(Zoysia matrella), 갯잔디(Zoysia sinica), 왕잔디(Zoysia macrostachya) 등이 있지만, 국내 자생 잔디의 품종 구분이 명확하지 않아 체계적인 보존과 관리가 어려운 실정이다. 최근 특정 염기서열 구간을 이용해 종을 식별하는 DNA 바코드 분석법이 개발되어, 다양한 생물종을 빠르고 정확하게 구별하는 것이 가능해졌다. 따라서, 본 연구에서는 자생 잔디의 분류를 위한 DNA 바코드 시스템 구축하고 이것을 바탕으로 체계적인 잔디 관리를 수행하고자 국내의 자생 한국잔디(들잔디, 금잔디, 갯잔디) 수집하고, 지역별로 들잔디와 금잔디, 갯잔디의 핵내 ITS(Internal Transcribed Spacer)구간과 엽록체 일부 구간에서 DNA 바코드 분석을 수행하였다. 국내 수집된 자생 잔디는 들잔디(영양체 334점, 종자 35점)와, 금잔디(영양체 20점, 종자 4점), 갯잔디(영양체 84점, 종자 26점), 왕잔디(영양체 2점) 등 섬20지역과 산16지역에서 총 506점을 확보하였다. 잔디 분류를 위한 DNA 바코드 분석은 국내 잔디 판매 종자 및 국내 수집 영양체를 재료로 ITS구간과 엽록체 일부 구간에서 DNA 바코드 분석을 수행하여, 각 DNA 바코드구간 염기서열을 확보하였다. 특히, ITS 구간에서 들잔디와 갯잔디의 확연한 염기서열 차이를 확인하였다. 본 연구결과를 통해, DNA 바코드 분석 시스템은 비슷한 표현형을 보이는 잔디의 분류 수단으로 활용이 가능할 것이다.

Seed color is an important factor affecting physiological and developmental process in wheat. One of the plant pigments, anthocyanins are a group of flavonoid compounds well known as pigments responsible for blue, purple, red, or yellow coloration of plant tissues. In this study, we investigated the pigmentation of purple and yellow color seed according to wheat grain developmental stages. The contents of anthocyanin and chlorophyll in the purple and yellow seeds were measured. Chlorophyll contents were changed similarly in both purple and yellow color seed, and no significant difference was observed between them. In purple color seed, the content of anthocyanin was significantly induced compared with yellow color seed. The individual anthocyanin components were investigated by ultra performance liquid chromatography (UPLC). Cyanidine-3-glucoside (C3G) and peonidine-3-glucoside (P3G) were detected as predominant anthocyanin in purple color wheat. To investigate whether structural genes in anthocyanin biosynthesis were involved in the trait differences between purple and yellow color seed, we examined the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes (CHS, CHI, F3H, DFR, ANS, UFGT) and MYB transcription factor in developing wheat grains by using qRT-PCR. This study indicates that the expression of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes and MYB transcription factors correlate with anthocyanin levels of grain.

잔디는 운동장과 골프장, 공원, 묘지 등의 다양한 장소에 식재되는 주요 원예작물이다. 국내에 자생하는 한국잔디(Zoysiagrass)로는 들잔디(Zoysia japonica)와 금잔디(Zoysia matrella), 갯잔디(Zoysia sinica) 등이 있다. 주요 원예작물에 대한 대사체 분석은 다양하게 연구가 이루어지고 있지만 아직 잔디의 대사체 성분 분석은 거의 이루어진 바 없다. FTIR(Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy)은 적외선을 통해 얻어지는 sample의 흡광도를 이용하여, 해당 시료의 성분 및 양을 측정할 수 있는 기법으로써, HPLC와 같은 기존의 대사체 분석 방법 보다 쉽고 빠르게 결과를 알 수 있어 최근 다양한 분야에서 사용되고 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 다년간 수집된 국내 자생 잔디(들잔디, 금잔디, 갯잔디) 약 240점의 FTIR분석을 통해 대사체 수준에서 자생 잔디의 식별체계를 확립하고자 하였다. PCA(principal component analysis)와 PLS-DA(Partial least square discriminant analysis)분석 결과, 갯잔디는 들잔디와 금잔디 라인들과 뚜렷하게 식별되었으며 PCA dendrogram에서도 같은 결과를 얻을 수 있었다. 이를 통해 갯잔디의 대사체 성분들이 들잔디와 금잔디와 비교하여 매우 다른 특징을 가지고 있음을 알 수 있었다. 수집지별로 들잔디 라인들의 PCA 분석결과에서는 산악지대와 해안지대에 서식하는 잔디가 식별되는 경향을 보였으며, PLS-DA와 PLS-DA dendrogram 분석결과에서는 두 그룹이 더욱 뚜렷하게 구분되어 서식지에 따른 들잔디의 대사산물의 패턴 차이가 크게 나타남을 확인할 수 있었다.

Gene targeting (GT)은 식물체 내로 삽입하려는 donor DNA와 식물체 내의 endogenous DNA 간의 상동재조합(Homologous recombination)의 원리를 이용하여, plant genome내의 목표 유전자를 특수한 목적으로 만들어진 modified donor DNA로 교체하는 기술이다. 식물에서는 비상동재조합 (Non-Homologous End Joining)이 homologous recombination보다 높은 비율로 일어나기 때문에 GT의 효율이 동물에 비해 현저하게 낮다. 이를 해결할 수 있는 방안으로 1) 형질전환 효율을 향상시키거나 2) 상동재조합의 효율을 높이는 것 또는 3) 선별 체계의 정확도를 높이는 것이 있는데, 그 중 상동재조합의 효율을 증가시키는 방법에 double strand breaks (DSB)가 큰 영향을 주는 것으로 보고된 바 있다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 Agrobacterium 형질전환을 이용해 한국 잔디인 들잔디 (Zoysia japonica Steud.) 캘러스에 상동재조합이 일어났음을 확인할 수 있는 marker인 pGU.C.USB를 삽입하고, southern blot과 GUS assay를 통해 자연 상태에서 일어나는 들잔디 본래의 상동재조합 효율을 측정하였다. 추후 DSB를 유도하여 향상된 상동재조합의 효율을 측정할 것이다.

Blueberry (Vaccinium spp.) is a member of the Ericaceae and eleven varieties have been registered at the Korea Seed & Variety Service for Plant Variety Protection (PVP). This study was to develop simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers next generation sequencing (NGS) analysis and to analysis genetic relationship of blueberry 31 varieties. Highbush blueberry ‘Camellia’ and rabbiteye blueberry ‘Alapaha’ varieties were used as sequencing materials. Out of total 987 SSR primers detected between ‘Camellia’ and ‘Alapaha’, 148 SSR primers were initially applied to select SSR markers for identification of blueberry varieties. Fourteen SSR markers showed polymorphism between 8 varieties. Seven SSR markers showed reproducibility and clear peak among 14 SSR markers. Genetic relationships of 31 blueberry varieties were analyzed and identified using 7 SSR markers. A total of 30 polymorphic SSR alleles were obtained and two to seven alleles were detected for each locus with an average of 4.3 alleles per locus. Average polymorphism information content was 0.556, ranging from 0.374 to 0.714. Genetic distance of clusters ranged from 0.38 to 0.93 by unweighted pair-group method with arithmetical average based on Jaccard’s distance coefficients. These newly developed SSR markers indicate usefulness for variety identification related to seed dispute and distinctness, uniformity and stability (DUS) test for blueberry.

In the genus Chrysanthemum, repetitive DNA sequences, the dominant part of a genome, are still to be elucidated. To explore the matter, the present study applied fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) to the mitotic metaphase chromosome of Chrysanthemum boreale with C0t DNA as probes. Based on DNA re-assotiation kinetics, three kinds of C0t DNA exhibiting different degrees of repetitive nature were fractionated and used as FISH probes to map the repetitive sequences. Signals from all C0t DNAs were successfully observed but their coverage on the chromosomes was different among C0t-1, C0t-10, and C0t-100. C0t-1 FISH signals resulted to have its intensity on the telomeric region and were also dispersed on both chromosome arms except for some distal regions. In C0t-10, signals were observed in all parts of the chromosome with greater intensity around pericentromeric regions. FISH with C0t-100 DNA was observed in bright signals all over the chromosome. Signals of C0t FISH found in this study covered the regions where ribosomal DNAs and telomeric repeats of C. boreale have been distributed (previous report), thus signifying their repetitive attributes. The present results could enhance the efficiency of studying genomes, chromosomes and repetitive sequences of C. boreale and subsequently hasten the realization of the genetic scheme of Chrysanthemum.

FLOWERING TIME CONTROL PROTEIN, FPA gene encode RNA Recognition Motif (RRM) domain protein and plays important roles in flowering time control in Arabidopsis. Floral transition is significant for reproductive products in all flowering plants. However, little is known about the functions of Medicago autonomous pathway gene. We had cloned the FPA gene on Medicago based on the sequence similarity of Arabidopsis FPA sequence. The RT-qPCR analysis of MtFPA expression patterns showed that the MtFPA transcripts accumulated ubiquitously in roots, leaves, stems, flowers, and pods. When fused to the green fluorescence protein, MtPFA-GFP was localized in the nucleus as speckle pattern of protoplast from Arabidopsis. To examine the function of MtFPA, 35S::MtFPA transgenic plants were generated in Arabidopsis late flowering mutant background, fpa-2. Overexpression of MtFPA specifically caused early flowering under long day conditions compared with non-transgenic plants. In MtFPA transgenic lines, AtFLC expression were down-regulated whereas the floral integrators, AtFT and AtSOC1 were up-regulated as compare with control plant. As these results, MtFPA suggest that is a functional ortholog of the Arabidopsis and may play an important role in the regulation of flowering transition in Medicago.

Grain color distinguishes between the pigmentation of the outer layer of the kernel. It is known that environmental factors affects the production of anthocyanins and abiotic stresses like high light intensity, low temperature, high salinity and/or drought stress, and others increase their amounts. After 7 days the germination rate between yellow and dark-purple seeds were almost the same with and without stress (100% yellow seeds under stress and without stress germinated, 93.3% under stress and 96.6% without stress of purple seeds germinated), even though at the final stage the germination was almost the same, we can conclude base on our observations that the germination takes place at a different rate. We think that this might be related to the seed color, since the germination of purple seeds under salt stress started earlier than the yellow ones, until both reached the same point. The antioxidant activity was higher in seedlings from dark-purple seeds than the yellow ones, and they were higher under salt stress than without it, supporting our hypothesis that the purple color in wheat seeds works as a protection under salt stress. Furthermore, the qRT-pCR showed that some genes related to the flavonoid pathway were expressed or had more expression in the seedlings from dark-purple seeds than yellow ones.

Flowering time is a important agronomic trait for grain production in rice. So the control of flowering time is a critical step. In Arabidopsis, expression of certain key flowering gene such as FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) is known to be epigenetically regulated by chromatin modification through Enhancer of Zeste[E(z)], a histone methyltransferase, that core component of repressive complex, polycomb repressive complex2(PRC2). However, the chromatin mechanism involved in the regulation of rice flowering genes is presently not well known. Here we show that predict coding region of a intronic LncRNA[termed rice COLDAIR(OsCOLDAIR)], which is expected to associate with a component of PRC2, is predicted at rice FLC gene. And additionally we suggest interaction of histone methyltransferase and E3 SUMO ligase that indicate possibility of interaction with rice E(z) gene and rice E3 SUMO ligase. Our study contribute to control of rice flowering time by observing two factor that can regulate expression of related of rice FLC gene.