Progress and Prospect of Functional Rice Researches

With the rapid development of economy and the increase of people＇s living standards, functional foods are being gradually embraced by consumers and have a great growth potential. Rice is the main staple food in China. It plays an important role in promoting people＇s health and in improving public nutrition, and therefore there is an ever-increasing consumer demand for rice for its functional quality. This study introduces the concept of functional rice and summarizes the current research progress on this topic and the application of breeding strategies including traditional breeding, induced mutagenesis, molecular marker-assisted selection and transgenic engineering in the research of a new generation of functional rice that posses health benefits, therapeutic values, bioreactor properties, and other unique functions. We then point out the prospect of functional rice from the point of view of social development, germplasm innovation, breeding of functional rice by biological technology and the test of active material related functional rice. We conclude that developing and marketing of functional rice is becoming a subject of great importance for research and is to be the focus of research in future.

Status and Perspectives on the Researches of Rice Glutelin Mutants

Rice (Oryza sativa L. ) is one of the model plants for genomics research. As the raising of functional rice breeding for special usage, glutelin mutants play a more and more important role in the functional rice breeding as well as eukaryotic gene expression and regulation research materials. For example, the rice cultivar special for the patients suffering from kidney disease and diabetes could be developed from the rice glutelin mutants. In this paper, current researches on characterization, mutation mechanism and breeding usage of various rice glutelin mutants, especially the low glutelin content cultivars, were all discussed with perspectives on the trends of the glutelin mutant researches in the era of post-genomics.

Long-term rice-rice-green manure rotation changing the microbial communities in typical red paddy soil in South China

On the basis of a long-term（30 years） field experiment that involved four rotation systems, rice-rice-winter fallow（RRF）, rice-rice-ryegrass（RRG）, rice-rice-rape（RRP）, and rice-rice-milk vetch（RRV）, this study described the effects of green manure on the microbial communities in the red paddy soils using 454 pyrosequencing for the 16 S r RNA gene. The Chao1 richness and non-parametric Shannon＇s index increased in all soil samples that received green manure treatments. The communities＇ structures with the green manure applications were significantly dissimilar from that under the winter fallow. Using Metastats tests, many genera in the RRG, RRP and RRV soils were significantly different from those in the RRF soil, including a number of genera that functioned in the nitrogen and sulfur cycles. Analyses of the genera with these functions revealed the shifts in microbial ecosystem functions after long-term green manuring. Changes in the microbial communities increased the ammonium supply and decreased the soil acidification in green-manure-amended soils. Together, these data suggested powerful effects of green manure on both the microbial communities and the biogeochemical cycle driven by the shifts in bacterial functional groups.

Effect of gradient magnetic field on physiochemistry functions of rice seedlings

Rice varieties Handao 2,Zhongbai 4,Han-jingzi,and Akihikari were treated with gradi-ent magnetic fileld to study the effect of gradi-ent field on rice.The magnetic field was madeup of 12 plots magnetic plates arranged in eachother south and north pole.The magneticstrength was 0-40 mT.Each four varieties wasput under the magnetic plate 15 cm away,andwent through the magnetic field with the speedof 20 cm/s.The same varieties without thetreatment were used as CK.Both of the seedswere soaked in water for 48 h in room temper-ature,and then sprouted on the porcelain platewith absorbed water paper.When the

Isolation and Identification of a Functional Centromere Element in the Wild Rice Species Oryza granulata with the GG Genome

The centromere of eukaryotic chromosomes is the crucial locus responsible for sister chromatid cohesion and for correct segregation of chromosomes to daughter cells during cell division. In the structural genomics era, centromeres represent the last frontiers of higher eukaryotic genomes because of their densely methylated, highly repetitive and, heterochromatic DNA （Hall et al., 2004）. Although these functions are conserved among all eukaryotes, centromeric DNA sequences are evolving rapidly （Jiang et al., 2003）.

The calcium-dependent kinase OsCPK24 functions in cold stress responses in rice

Calcium-dependent protein kinases（CPKs）are serine/threonine protein kinases that function in plant stress responses. Although CPKs are recognized as key messengers in signal transduction, the specific roles of CPKs and the molecular mechanisms underlying their activity remain largely unknown. Here, we characterized the function of Os CPK_（24）, a cytosol-localized calciumdependent protein kinase in rice. Os CPK_（24） was universally and highly expressed in rice plants and was induced by cold treatment. Whereas Os CPK_（24） knockdown plants exhibited increased sensitivity to cold compared to wild type（WT）, Os CPK_（24）-overexpressing plants exhibited increased cold tolerance. Plants overexpressing Os CPK_（24） exhibited increased accumulation of proline（an osmoprotectant） and glutathione（an antioxidant） and maintained a higher GSH/GSSG（reduced glutathione to oxidized glutathione） ratio during cold stress compared to WT. In addition to these effects in response to cold stress, we observed the kinase activity of Os CPK_（24） varied under different calcium concentrations. Further,Os CPK_（24） phosphorylated Os Grx_（10）, a glutathionedependent thioltransferase, at rates modulated by changes in calcium concentration. Together, our results support the hypothesis that Os CPK_（24） functions as a positive regulator of cold stress tolerance in rice, a process mediated by calcium signaling and involving phosphorylation and the inhibition of Os Grx_（10） to sustain higher glutathione levels.