OsHG3 Affects Rice Palea Development, Grain Yield and Quality

Floral development is one of the most important determining factors of grain yield in cereal crops(Immink et al,2010).The rice inflorescence is composed of the spikelet,a specific structural unit in poaceae,which is greatly different from typical eudicots.However,several genes encoding the homologous of the proteins in ABCDE model were also found in rice genome(Luo and Zhu,2002).Lemma and palea are grass-specific floret tissues which interlock with each other to protect the inner floral organs and seeds from attack by pathogens,insects or abiotic stresses.Meanwhile,they have photosynthetic ability and provide amino acids and carbohydrates to grouting seeds.