Control of tillering in rice

• Published in: Nature (London) 2003-04, Vol.422 (6932), p.618-621
• Main Authors: Li, Jiayang, Li, Xueyong, Qian, Qian, Fu, Zhiming, Wang, Yonghong, Xiong, Guosheng, Zeng, Dali, Wang, Xiaoqun, Liu, Xinfang, Teng, Sheng, Hiroshi, Fujimoto, Yuan, Ming, Luo, Da, Han, Bin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agriculture; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Amino Acid Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Buds; Cloning, Molecular; culms; Economic plant physiology; Freshwater; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes; Genes, Plant - genetics; Genetic Complementation Test; Genetics; Growth and development; Histology; MOC1 gene; Molecular Sequence Data; MONOCULM 1 protein; Morphogenesis, differentiation, rhizogenesis, tuberization. Senescence; Mutation; Nuclear Proteins - chemistry; Nuclear Proteins - genetics; Nuclear Proteins - metabolism; Oryza - anatomy & histology; Oryza - genetics; Oryza - growth & development; Oryza sativa; Phenotype; Plant growth. Development of the storage organs; Plant physiology and development; Plant Proteins - chemistry; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Rice; RNA, Messenger - genetics; RNA, Messenger - metabolism; tillering; Vegetative apparatus, growth and morphogenesis. Senescence
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/nature01518

Tillering in rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important agronomic trait for grain production, and also a model system for the study of branching in monocotyledonous plants. Rice tiller is a specialized grain-bearing branch that is formed on the unelongated basal internode and grows independently of the mother stem (culm) by means of its own adventitious roots. Rice tillering occurs in a two-stage process: the formation of an axillary bud at each leaf axil and its subsequent outgrowth. Although the morphology and histology and some mutants of rice tillering have been well described, the molecular mechanism of rice tillering remains to be elucidated. Here we report the isolation and characterization of MONOCULM 1 (MOC1), a gene that is important in the control of rice tillering. The moc1 mutant plants have only a main culm without any tillers owing to a defect in the formation of tiller buds. MOC1 encodes a putative GRAS family nuclear protein that is expressed mainly in the axillary buds and functions to initiate axillary buds and to promote their outgrowth.