Reference "Deletion in a gene associated with grain size increased yields during rice domestication"

Reference ID

25494

Title

Deletion in a gene associated with grain size increased yields during rice domestication

Source

Nature genetics, 2008, vol. 40, pp. 1023-1028

Authors (7)

Shomura-A	Izawa-T
Ebana-K	Ebitani-T
Kanegae-H	Konishi-S
Yano-M

Abstract

The domestication of crops involves a complex process of selection in plant
evolution and is associated with changes in the DNA regulating agronomically
important traits. Here we report the cloning of a newly identified QTL, qSW5
(QTL for seed width on chromosome 5), involved in the determination of grain
width in rice. Through fine mapping, complementation testing and association
analysis, we found that a deletion in qSW5 resulted in a significant increase in
sink size owing to an increase in cell number in the outer glume of the rice
flower; this trait might have been selected by ancient humans to increase yield
of rice grains. In addition, we mapped two other defective functional nucleotide
polymorphisms of rice domestication-related genes with genome-wide RFLP
polymorphisms of various rice landraces. These analyses show that the qSW5
deletion had an important historical role in artificial selection, propagation
of cultivation and natural crossings in rice domestication, and shed light on
how the rice genome was domesticated.