A team of scientists has i
dentified a gene in rice that controls the size and weight of rice grains. This particular gene is called GIF1. The researchers found this gene by first studying a particular mutant crop that is defective in its ability to produce normal-sized grains. They have found that the GIF1 gene in the mutant was indeed mutated.
But how does the GIF1 gene affect the growth of the grain? The same team of scientists found that GIF1 was responsible for controlling the activity of the enzyme: invertase. Invertase, which is found in the cell wall of the rice plant, is important in the formation of starch within in developing grains. So in other words, if invertase is not active, the rice plant cannot produce edible grains.
To test this, the team measured and compared the activity of invertase within a normal strain of rice with the invertase activity in the mutant strain of rice. The scientists found that the invertase activity in the mutant strain was only 17% of the activity that was observed in the normal strain. With these results the team concludes that the GIF1 gene does in fact control invertase activity in rice. To confirm this, the scientists created transgenic lines of rice in which the GIF 1 gene is overexpressed and found that these rice strains produced larger & heavier grains than normal strains
This discovery of the GIF1 gene may lead to possibilities in creating hybrid varieties of rice that produce even larger grains. If successful, starvation in the
By David Hsieh (42057349)
Read more at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080928145607.htm
