For purposes of studying intron structures and predicting consensus splice motifs, a total of 102 legume species were used to isolate introns across the family. Of 196 gene-targeted PCR primer pairs, we successfully amplified 118 intron-containing genes (60.2%) and obtained a total of 1,870 introns with an average size of 143 nucleotides. Species-based compilation of 5’- and 3’-splicing motifs showed lineage-specific conservation in each splicing motif. Compilation of the entire intron set permitted prediction of the consensus sequences of splicing signal motifs in legumes, AYGWGTABABGH and TVNC/TAGGHTV for the 5’- and 3’-splicing motifs, respectively. Interestingly, these consensus motifs are very similar to the corresponding splicing signals of two model systems, Arabidopsis and rice. This result is suggestive of conservation of pre-mRNA splicing mechanisms in higher plants. Multiple alignments of CALTL introns demonstrated that the region from the branch point to 3’ splice site was relatively more conserved than the region from5’ splice site to the branch point. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that each of three splicing motifs, 5’-splice sites, 3’-splice sits, and branch site, was relevant to evolutionary divergence of species and phylogenetically informative, suggesting that splice signal sequences would be useful as a potential tool for the molecular phylogenetic analysis.

Soil moisture condition is an important limiting factor in growth and yield in rice culture. The purpose of this study was to compare the influence on the growth, yield and Quality of rice subjected to soil moisture stress (SMS) at different growth stages. Ajaponica rice cultivar, Dongjinbyeo, was cultured under flooded conditions in a plastic container filled with silty loam soil. The container was subjected to SMS until the initial wilting point (IWP) coincided with about 10% in soil moisture content and about-200 kPa in soil matric potential, and was then irrigated again, at 6 and 5 of main growth stage in 1996 and 1997, respectively. At maturity, the plant height, tiller number, leaf area and top dry weight were decreased more in SMS treatments at the early stage than the late stage. The averaged yield index of SMS to control in both years was lowest at meiosis (62.5%), which primarily resulted from lower percent ripened grain and 1,000 grain weight, and second＇ reduced the spikelet number per panicle and panicle number per hill, and followed at tillering stage (68.5%) which resulted from the lower production in tiller number and top dry matter during and after SMS treatment. The percent-age of read rice in SMS plants varied with the treatment stage as order of lower at meiosis (44.0%), heading (53.9%), panicle initiation (70.1%), tillering (72.1%), ripening (75.8%) and 5 days after transplanting (DAT) (79.0%). Protein content in brown rice was slightly larger in SMS at late growth stage than the control, while the contents of fat and ash differed very little between SMS and control. Contents of Mg and K and Mg/K in brown rice with SMS were lower at some treatment stages such as at ripening or panicle initiation.

Spikelet and vascular bundle development in rice panicles is considered to be the important elements in determining the genotype's yield capacity and translocation ability of assimilates into grains, respectively. This study was conducted to clarify the varietal differences of the spikelet and vascular bundle formations among three rice cultivars; Iksan 435 (japonica), Dongjinbyeo (japonica) and Namcheonbyeo (Tongl-type). Iksan 435 had more primary rachis branches (PRBs), secondary rachis branches (SRBs) and spikelets per panicle than Dongjinbyeo, but less than Namcheonbyeo. Among three cultivars, Namcheonbyeo showed the highest spikelet number per panicle which were differentiated SRBs mainly on PRBs of lower rachis nodes. And Namchenbyeo showed the highest number of large vascular bundle (LVB) as well as small vascular bundle (SVB) and it displayed the largest diameter of LVB. Between the two japonica cultivars, the numbers of LVBs end SVBs were significantly higher in Iksan 435 than those in Dongjinbyeo. The PRBs to LVBs ratio of Namcheonbyeo was twice as large as those of Dongjinbyeo and Iksan 435. These results indicate that the newly bred cultivar, Iksan 435, has improved yield capacity by increasing the number of especially rachis branches and spikelets formation as well as 1,000 grain weight, compared to other former japonicas