Rice is one of the most important major food crops which provide the major food for more than half of global population. To improve the grain quality as well as grain yield has been the essential breeding goal in rice. The composition of amylopectin is the determinant of rice eating quality under certain threshold of protein content and the ratio of amylose and amylopectin. In this study, RBE 1 driven by CaMV-35S promoter was constructed and transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. We selected single copy with low amylose content among transgenic lines. The mRNA expression was investigated using RT-PCR, and enzyme activity was determined using activity staining method in mid-milky stage endosperm. Also, the overexpression vectors for RBE 1 and SSS 1 driven by seed specific globulin promoter were constructed, respectively. Moreover, the RNA interference vectors for soluble starch synthase 1 and granule bound starch synthase 1 derived by CaMV35S promoter were constructed, respectively and transformed using Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The transgene has been confirmed by amplification of HPT and target gene. The transgenic plants obtained will be used to investigate the gene function of related starch pathway in plant cells using Gopumbyeo as a wild type rice, based on the gain-of-function and the loss-of-function. The development of designed site-specific endonucleases boosted the establishment of gene targeting (GT) techniques in a row of different species. However, the methods described in plants require a highly efficient transformation and regeneration procedure and, therefore, can be applied to very few species. Here, we describe a highly efficient GT system that is suitable for all transformable plants regardless of transformation efficiency. Efficient in planta GT was achieved in rice by expression of a site specific endonuclease (SSS1::ZFN) that not only cuts within the target but also the chromosomal transgenic donor, leading to an excised targeting vector.

A cDNA clone encoding CBL-interacting protein kinase 1 (CIPK1) was isolated from Chinese cabbage seedlings. The gene, BrCIPK1 consisted of 1,982 bp long with 216 bp of the 5’-untranslated region (UTR), 1,509 bp of the coding region and 257 bp of the 3’-UTR. It is highly conserved CBL-interacting module with absolutely conserved domain among the 15 amino acid NAF domain of the 15 related genes. Southern blot analysis showed a single copy number. BrCIPK1 gene was localized in the cytoplasm and peripheral region in the plant cell which is highly expressed in seedling of rice and in the shoot and pistil of Arabidopsis. Analyses of gene expression on Ubi-1::BrCIPK1 rice lines was differentially accumulated by cold, salinity and drought, indicating its biological roles in the multiple stress response pathways in plants. Further, the expression of BrCIPK1 is hijacked by rice calcineurin-B-like protein (OsCBL5). Moreover, mRNA expression of P5CS1, a gene responsible for proline biosynthesis is regulated by the BrCIPK1 during abiotic stresses resulting to improved accumulation of proline. The interaction of BrCIPK1 with OsCBL5 along with the regulation of P5CS1 explained the enhanced tolerance of transgenic rice. This gene could be used in the development of rice varieties with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses.

MYB-like domain (MLD) gene is a transcription factor that plays a diverse role in plant development and in response to abiotic stresses. In this study, we isolated and developed CaMV35S::OsMLD rice lines and determined its expression pattern under abiotic stresses. It has Myb_CC_LHEQLE superfamily similar to most transcription factor genes but with a very unique binding domain of SHLQKYR in the C-terminal region. Overexpressing rice lines showed enhanced tolerance to salinity with elevated mRNA transcript. Additionally, mRNA transcripts were up-regulated by ABA, H2O2 and dehydration stresses. Further investigation in the enhanced tolerance to salinity showed an increased accumulation of proline and a decreased in malondialdehyde contents indicating that OsMLD gene may be involved in the regulation of proline and osmolytes during abiotic stresses. These results showed that OsMLD gene could be used in the development of rice intended for soil with salinity-related problem.

UDP-glucose 4-epimerase (UGE) catalyzes the reversible conversion of UDP-glucose to UDP-galactose. The gene, named BrUGE1, isolated from a Chinese cabbage had a total length of 1,328 bp that contains a single open reading frame (ORF) of 1,056 bp which encodes a polypeptide of 351 amino acid residues with a calculated mass of 39.0 kDa. Sequence analysis of BrUGE1 protein has the characteristic of an active site tetrad and NAD-binding motif (typically TGXXGXXG) of the extended short chain dehydrogenase/ reductase (SRD) superfamily. Expression analysis showed that BrUGE1 is tissue specific and highly expressed in stem of rice plant. Interestingly, BrUGE1 mRNA was highly accumulated by drought stress with significantly higher amount of soluble sugar. Morphological evaluation showed an increase in yield by 27%. Panicle length, number of productive tillers/hill, and filled spikelets were significantly increased by 17~20% compared to the wild type Gopum. Moreover, the growth of the wild type Gopum seedlings on galactose was increasingly inhibited with a decrease in UDP-glc epimerase 1 expression compared to the transgenic rice lines. In the Ubi-1::BrUGE1 lines, the increase of UDP-glc epimerase 1 expression was apparently sufficient to overcome the toxic effects of galactose. Taken together, the Ubi-1::BrGUE1 rice lines increased yield probably by increasing the rate of filled grains. The enhanced drought tolerance may be due to the induction of soluble sugar which may act as osmolyte to compensate dehydration during drought stress.

The latest report on draft genome of Brassica rapa sequence has been published. To elucidate the functions of a large population of these genes and to search efficiently for agriculturally useful genes, the Full-length cDNA Over-eXpressor (FOX) gene hunting system was used. The FOX library was transformed into rice by Agrobacteriummediated transformation. Approximately 1,150 FOX-rice lines were generated. Genomic PCR analysis indicated that the average length of FL-cDNAs was 900∼1,200 bp with functional annotation of many unknown function (35.5%). Most of the randomly selected transgenic rice lines showed overexpression (92%) and barely mRNA expression in the wild type Gopum. Moreover, 94% of the 850 transgenic rice lines were moderately tolerant (slightly yellow) to cold and 9 lines were tolerant (seedling light green). For the salinity evaluation, most of the transgenic lines (85%) were highly susceptible whereas seven lines were tolerant. In addition, morphological evaluation of rice lines showed minimal phenotypic alteration (12%). About 25.1 and 22% were earlier in terms of days to heading and chlorophyll contents, respectively. Further, 18% of FOX rice lines showed lower chlorophyll contents. Filled grains, number of tillers, panicle length, culm and plant height were relatively less variable among the lines. These results provided useful genes for functional analyses in the mechanisms of identified transgenic tolerant lines.

The antimicrobial peptide possesses defence system to virus, fungi and bacteria. To study antibiotic in plant, antimicrobial peptides were obtained by PCR analysis by primers designed from antimicrobial peptides (Gene bank accession no. NM-004345), cloned in pET28 expression vector and the vector transformed into E. coli. And this gene was inserted into Ti-plasmid VB2 vector, which contained the pGD1 promoter. The expression construction was transformed into Agrobacterium EHA105 and then plant tissues of rice (Oryza sativa). Seeds from transgenic plants (T0) were germinated on selective media containing spectinomycin 50 mg/L. Selected plants and wild type were analyzed by PCR and RT-PCR with pGD1 promoter region and transgene specific primer set. All transgenic plants showed expression pattern of similar levels. We showed that the chromobody is effective in binding GFPand antimicrobial peptide gene in tobacco leaf. Most interestingly, this can be applied to interfere with the function of GFP fusion protein and to mislocalize (trap) GFP fusions to the plant cytoplasm in order to alter the phenotype mediated by the targeted proteins. Bacterial blight disease was enhanced resistance in transgenic lines. These results showed that antibiotic peptides might show a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity.

Recently, proteome analysis is becoming a powerful tool for the functional characterization of plants. Due to the availability of vast nucleotide sequence information and based on the progress achieved in sensitive and rapid protein identification by mass spectrometry, proteome approaches open up now perspectives to analyze the complex functions of model crop species at different level. In this study, we have N-terminal sequencing data for the 100 embryo and 53 seed proteins of rice separated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE) were collected and systematically organized for a protein sequence data-file. An attempt was made to link the embryo proteins of rice to DNA sequences for understanding their functions. One hundred proteins of the 700 spots were detected in the embryo using 2-DE gels whereas we used micro sequenced. Of these, 28% of the embryo proteins were matched to DNA sequences with known functions, but 72% of the proteins were identified to be unknown functions as previously reported by Woo et al.,. In addition, twenty-four spots of protein with 100% of homology and nine with over 80% were matched to ESTs (expressed sequence tags) after expanding the amino acid sequences of the protein spots by Database searches using the available EST databases of rice at the NCBI (http://www/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and DDBJ (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/). Also, a total of 53 proteins out of 700 protein spots separated on the 2-DE gels were analyzed by the peptide mass fingerprinting method (MALDI-TOF/MS). High-quality mass spectra suitable for peptide mass fingerprinting were obtained from 41 spots. Using the ESI-Q-TOF/MS, however, we were able to identify 53 seed proteins of rice, including 12 proteins not registered in database. The rapid expansion of DNA sequence databases to the utilization of EST now provides the whole or partial gene sequences of model organisms, and the recent advances in protein micro-characterization by mass spectrometry allow the possibility of linking these DNA sequences to the proteins in functional complexes. Proteome Database of rice is updated, and is available on the World Wide Web at http://gene64.rda.affrc.go. This work shows that the proteome analysis could be a useful strategy to link the sequence information to the functional genomics.

A cDNA clone encoding CBL-interacting protein kinase 1 (CIPK1) was isolated from Chinese cabbage seedlings. The gene, BrCIPK1 consisted of 1,982 bp long with 216 bp of the 5’-untranslated region (UTR), 1,509 bp of the coding region and 257 bp of the 3’-UTR. It is highly conserved CBL-interacting module with absolutely conserved domain among the 15 amino acid NAF domain of the 15 related genes. Southern blot analysis showed a single copy number. BrCIPK1 gene was localized in the cytoplasm and peripheral region in the plant cell which is highly expressed in seedling of rice and in the shoot and pistil of Arabidopsis. Analyses of gene expression on Ubi-1::BrCIPK1 rice lines was differentially accumulated by cold, salinity and drought, indicating its biological roles in the multiple stress response pathways in plants. Further, the expression of BrCIPK1 is hijacked by rice calcineurin-B-like protein (OsCBL5). Moreover, mRNA expression of P5CS1, a gene responsible for proline biosynthesis is regulated by the BrCIPK1 during abiotic stresses resulting to improved accumulation of proline. The interaction of BrCIPK1 with OsCBL5 along with the regulation of P5CS1 explained the enhanced tolerance of transgenic rice. This gene could be used in the development of rice varieties with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses.

MYB-like domain (MLD) gene is a transcription factor that plays a diverse role in plant development and in response to abiotic stresses. In this study, we isolated and developed CaMV35S::OsMLD rice lines and determined its expression pattern under abiotic stresses. The MLD has Myb_CC_LHEQLE superfamily similar to most transcription factor genes but with a very unique binding domain of SHLQKYR in the C-terminal region. Overexpressing rice lines showed enhanced tolerance to salinity with elevated mRNA transcript. Additionally, mRNA transcripts were up-regulated by ABA, H2O2 and dehydration stresses. Further investigation in the enhanced tolerance to salinity showed an increased accumulation of proline and a decreased in malondialdehyde contents indicating that OsMLD gene may be involved in the regulation of proline and osmolytes during abiotic stresses. These results showed that OsMLD gene could be used in the development of rice intended for soil with salinity-related problem.

Flowering is one of the most important developmental programs that plants use to ensure survival and reproductive success. The timing of flowering is under the control of several interdependent pathways. The molecular and genetic background of the interaction between environmental factors and the floral transition in these cultivars are still not reported. TaVRT2 expression is up-regulated in the winter genotypes during the vegetative phase and in photoperiod-sensitive genotypes during short days, and is repressed by vernalization to a level that allows the transition to the reproductive phase. Protein-protein interaction studies revealed that TaVRT-2 interacts with proteins encoded by two important vernalization genes (TaVRT-1/VRN-1 and VRN-2) in wheat. These results support the hypothesis that TaVRT-2 is a putative repressor of the floral transition in wheat. This gene is located on the short arm of homologous group 7 chromosomes in hexapolid wheat. The TaVRT2 acts as a repressor of the floral transition in wheat. We found that the flowering suppressor of flowering suppressor gene might be located on the short arm of chromosome 7D using several chromosomal substitution or aneuploid lines. The genetic map has been constructed from segregation of 370 SSR loci using 210 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), which was established at F7 eneration by the single-seed descent method from F2 family derived from Mironnovavskaya 808 and Chinese Spring. To perform mapping on the TaVRT2 on the homologous group 7 chromosomes, three homogous genes, TaVRT-1, TaVRT-2, TaVRT-3, are isolated from two common wheat cultivars; Chinese Spring (CS), Mironnovavskaya 808 (M808) and nucleotide polymorphisms between two cultivars are detected.

Eating quality is critical for consumers who take rice as staple food. Here we present the development and identification of high eating quality rice lines. The identification of positive transgenic lines, physicochemical properties of transgenic rice, mRNA expression and enzyme activity were analyzed. OsSbe1 was introduced into Gopumbyeo seeds using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, and 1,005 out of 1,065 T1 plants were shown positive. The apparent amylose contents in T2 brown rice ranged from 11% to 25% in 890 favorable lines (Gopumbyeo was used as a reference with 18% of AAC). The activity of starch branching enzyme including three isoforms (SBE1, SBE3, and SBE4) in endosperms of T3 lines was higher than that of Gopumbyeo. Physicochemical properties related to eating quality for T3 polished rice were detected using 52 favorable lines out of 500 lines selected according to AAC. The Toyo taste meter value in 52 T3 lines ranged from 61.1 to 72.6, whereas 70.4 in Gopumbyeo. Of them, eleven lines displayed the higher palatability score than Gopumbyeo. Moreover, these elite lines produced higher yields (607.9~695.8 kg/10a) than Gopumbyeo (602.7 kg/10a). These results indicated the possibility of developing new high quality rice varieties in the future.

Seed color is an important trait affecting flour yield and quality in wheat. Seed color also is either tightly linked to or pleiotropically controls seed dormancy in wheat, because most of the red-seeded wheats are tolerant to pre-harvest sprouting in comparison to white-seeded wheats. Recently, metabolomics approaches have recently been used to assess the natural variance in metabolite content between individual plants, an approach with great potential for the improvement of the compositional quality of crops. Basically, in the study here, the simultaneous proteomic and metablomic approaches are being investigated to identify the expressed proteins of genes and specific metabolism responsible for the expression of red and white colors of seed. Red seed “Jinpum” and white seed “Kumkang” cultivars were used in this study to identify the storage proteins use of 2-DE, MALDI-TOF/MS. Here we optimize tissue extraction methods compatible with high-throughput, reproducible nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy based metabolomics. It appears that the proteins expressed were different each other according to two different cultivars from the seeds of hexaploid wheat. Some selected protein spots were identified as follows: B3-hordein, Gamma-hordein-3,bifunctionalalpha amylase/subtilisin Inhibitor. To monitor metabolic profile, wheat grain was ground in liquid nitrogen, ensuring a homogeneous mix of the tissue, solution samples extracted from seed grains of two wheat cultivars were conducted to measurement of metabolite using 1H-1D NMR method. Representative 1H-1D NMR spectra showing the metabolic fingerprints of wheat grain extracted and presented in Fig. The different peaks, observed at 3.4 and 4.3 ppm, were detected and difference in each two cultivars. The metabolic fingerprint of each two wheat cultivars by 1H-1D NMR were analysed using partial least squares (PLS) in mutivariate analysis to confirm metabolic profiling between different cultivars and to screen chemical shift spectrum corresponding to metabolite specifically abundant in each cultivars. Profiling using 1H-1D NMR was applied to measure of abundance of major metabolite. In total metabolites were compared between “Jinpum” and “Kumkang” cultivars. Therefore, NMR based on the metabolic-phenotyping should be mostly applicable to systematic exploration of plant genetic resources as well as to metabolite based on the breeding program involved in crops productivity.

The present study was carried out to assess the genetic diversity, population structure and linkage disequilibrium in Korea. In model-based population, Korean rice germplasm were classified into four subpopulaton designated as indica cultivated, japonica cultivated, indica weedy, and japonica weedy were identified. Pair-wise estimates of FST indicated a different degree of differentiation between the four model-based populations with values ranging from 0.073 (between japonica cultivated and japonica weedy) and 0.474 (between japonica weedy and indica weedy). The indica weedy population appeared to be highly differentiated as compared to other populations. The indica cultivated have the highest gene diversity (0.58), followed by japonica cultivated (0.50), japonica weedy (0.42) and indica weedy (0.35). The total number of specific alleles in indica weedy and japonica weedy populations was 39 alleles (23 markers) and 55 alleles (22 markers), respectively. An average of LD (r2) value of indica weedy and japonica weedy type was higher than two other populations, both in inter- and intra-chromosome, indicating the possible reproductive and geographical isolations of sub-populations in cultivated rice fields.

An attempt was made to link rice embryo proteins to DNA sequences and to understand their functions. One hundred of the 700 spots detected on the embryo 2-DE gels were microsequenced. Of these, 28% of the embryo proteins were matched to DNA sequences with known functions, but 72% of the proteins were unknown in functions as previously reported (Woo et al. 2002). In addition, twenty-four protein spots with 100% of homology and nine with over 80% were matched to ESTs (expressed sequence tags) after expanding the amino acid sequences of the protein spots by Database searches using the available rice EST databases at the NCBI (http://www/ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and DDBJ (http://www.ddbj.nig.ac.jp/). The chromosomal location of some proteins were also obtained from the rice genetic map provided by Japanese Rice Genome Research Program (http://rgp.dna.affrc.go.jp). The DNA sequence databases including EST have been reported for rice (Oryza sativa L.) now provides whole or partial gene sequence, and recent advances in protein characterization allow the linking proteins to DNA sequences in the functional analysis. This work shows that proteome analysis could be a useful tool strategy to link sequence information and to functional genomics.

This study was carried out to map Bphl and bph2 gene in Mudgo and Sangju13 (Oryza sativa L.) respectively conferring resistance to brown plan-thopper (BPH) and to establish the marker-assisted selection (MAS) system. Bulked seedling (grown for 20 days) test was conducted with the 73 F4 lines derived from a cross between Nagdongbyeo and Mudgo for Bphl and with 53 BC3F5 lines derived from the Milyang95/Sangju13 cross for bph2. Bph1 was mapped between RG413 and RG901 on chromo-some 12 at a distance of 7.5 cM from RG413 and 8.4 cM from RG90l. A recessive gene bph2 was located near RZ76 on chromosome 12 at a distance of 14.4 cM. Bphl and bph2 were linked to each other with a distance of about 30 cM. An RFLP marker, RG413 linked to Bphl, was converted to an STS marker to facilitate the marker-assisted selection. BPH resistant genotypes could be selected with 92% accuracy in a population derived from a line of NM47-B-B.

This study was conducted to ascertain the chromosomal locations and effect of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with the physical traits of rice (Oryza sativa L.) eating quality. One hundred sixty four recombinant inbred lines (MGRILs) of F11 were derived from the cross between Milyang 23 (Tongil type) and Gihobyeo (japonica type). They were evaluated for six physical traits of cooked rice. Transgressive segregation was observed for all examined traits. Significant QTL were detected (LOD~geq 2.0) in three traits, including single QTL for adhesiveness, gumminess, and chewiness of cooked rice, respectively. Phenotypic variation explained by each QTL ranged from 6.3% to 14.6%. However, no significant QTL was detected for hardness, cohesiveness, and elasticity of cooked rice. Pleiotropic effects of single QTL on different traits are observed.d.

This study was conducted to investigate the chromosomal locations and effects of quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with chemical properties of rice (Oryza sativa L.). One hundred sixty four recombinant inbred lines (MGRILs) of F11 were derived from the cross between Milyang 23, Tongil type, and Gihobyeo, japonica type. They were evaluated for 7 traits of chemical property in rice. Transgressive segregation was observed for all traits examined. Eight significant QTLs were detected (LOD~geq 2.0) for five traits, including two QTLs for amylose content, two QTLs for potassium content, one QTL for ratio of magnesium to potassium, one QTL for fat content and two QTLs for ash content. Phenotypic variation explained by each QTL ranged from 7.2% to 14.4%. However, no significant QTL was detected for magnesium and protein contents. In amylose content and ash content M alleles originated from Milyang 23 were responsible for increasing these traits and J alleles originated from Gihobyeo also responsible for increasing these traits. Pleiotropic effects of single QTLs on different traits are observed.