Saturation mapping of QTL regions and identification of putative candidate genes for drought tolerance in rice.

We have developed 85 new markers (50 RFLPs, 5 SSRs, 12 DD cDNAs, 9 ESTs, 8 HSP-encoding cDNAs and one BSA-derived AFLP marker) for saturation mapping of QTL regions for drought tolerance in rice, in our efforts to identify putative candidate genes. Thirteen of the markers were localized in the close vicinity of the targeted QTL regions. Fifteen of the additional markers mapped, respectively, inside one QTL region controlling osmotic adjustment on chromosome 3 ( oa3.1) and 14 regions that affect root traits on chromosomes 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. Differential display was used to identify more putative candidate genes and to saturate the QTL regions of the genetic map. Eleven of the isolated cDNA clones were found to be derived from drought-inducible genes. Two of them were unique and did not match any genes in the GenBank, while nine were highly similar to cDNAs encoding known proteins, including a DnaJ-related protein, a zinc-finger protein, a protease inhibitor, a glutathione-S-transferase, a DNA recombinase, and a protease. Twelve new cDNA fragments were mapped onto the genetic linkage map; seven of these mapped inside, or in close proximity to, the targeted QTL regions determining root thickness and osmotic adjustment capacity. The gene I12A1, which codes for a UDP-glucose 4-epimerase homolog, was identified as a putative target gene within the prt7.1/brt7.1 QTL region, as it is involved in the cell wall biogenesis pathway and hence may be implicated in modulating the ability of rice roots to penetrate further into the substratum when exposed to drought conditions. RNAs encoding elongation factor 1beta, a DnaJ-related protein, and a homolog of wheat zinc-finger protein were more prominently induced in the leaves of IR62266 (the lowland rice parent of the mapping materials used) than in those of CT9993 (the upland rice parent) under drought conditions. Homologs of 18S ribosomal RNA, and mRNAs for a multiple-stress induced zinc-finger protein, a protease inhibitor, and a glutathione-S-transferase were expressed at significantly higher levels in CT9993 than in IR62266. Thus several genes involved in the regulation of DNA structure and mRNA translation were found to be drought-regulated, and may be implicated in drought resistance.

Classification of rice germplasm. II. Discrimination of indica from japonica via analysis of amplicon length polymorphisms.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to survey DNA sequence variation among 12 indica and 10 japonica rice cultivars. Of the 143 primer pairs used, 37 detected amplicon length polymorphism (ALP) and 11 revealed PCR banding patterns paralleled with the indica/japonica differentiation. Thus the 11 primer pairs were used to discriminate the two rice subspecies. A collection of 116 accessions representing the breadth of rice germplasm was analyzed for ALP at the 11 loci. Rice accessions with scores of 0.3 or more were classified as indica while those with -0.3 or less were classified as japonica. Those with scores from -0.3 to 0.3 were considered intermediate. With this criterion, 70 accessions were classified as indica, 35 accessions as japonica, and 11 accessions as intermediate. The concept and the approach used here for rice should be equally applicable for classifying other plant species.