Abstract:

【Objective】Starch is the main energy reserve of rice endosperm. The biosynthesis of starch is complex, requiring a large number of synthetic enzymes and regulators. Screening rice endosperm defective mutants and cloning the underlying genes will lay theoretical basis for starch biosynthesis and its regulation. 【Method】 A stable genetic floury and shrunken endosperm mutant termed as fse4 (floury and shrunken4) were obtained from the mutant library of Ningjing 3 (WT), which was induced by N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU). An F2 mapping population was generated by crossing the fse4 mutant with Dular (an indica rice variety) and the gene was finally isolated. The floury seeds segregated from the fse4 heterozygous plants were used to observe the morphological features, and the physicochemical properties of the brown rice flour were analyzed. The endosperm structure was observed with a scanning electron microscopy by the semi-thin section technology. The expression of starch synthesis related genes during grain filling was determined by qRT-PCR; Immunoblotting was used to detect the accumulation of proteins related to starch synthesis. The amino acids contents of each mature endosperm were determined with the fully automatic amino acid analyzer.【Result】The 1000-grain weight and grain size were significantly reduced in fse4. Compared with WT, the contents of total starch, amylose and total protein were signi?cantly lower in fse4, while the lipid content was signi?cantly higher. The starch viscosity, breakdown viscosity and setback viscosity of the fse4 mutant were lower than WT. The endosperm of the mutant had many single dispersed starch granules with large spaces between each other. Using 1568 recessive individuals, FSE4 was narrowed down to a 252 kb region. Sequencing revealed a single base substitution in the first exon of the delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase (P5CS), resulting in a conserved amino acid variation. Most of the genes related to starch synthesis were downregulated in fse4 and the protein accumulation related to starch synthase were reduced. The contents of various amino acids in fse4 rice flour were increased or decreased, the total free amino acids contents in fse4 seeds was 2.6 times higher than those in WT. Exogenous proline was applied during the germination of fse4 seeds, and the embryonic lethal phenotype was partially recovered.【Conclusion】FSE4 encode the key rate-limiting enzyme P5CS of proline synthesis, which plays an important role in the biosynthesis and metabolism of amino acids in endosperm and affects the accumulation of starch.

Key words: floury endosperm, starch synthesis, gene cloning, delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase, amino acid synthesis and metabolism

摘要：

【目的】水稻种子主要以淀粉形式储藏能量。淀粉合成需要多种酶类和调控因子参与，机制较为复杂。本研究利用水稻胚乳发育缺陷突变体，克隆和鉴定新的调控淀粉合成相关基因，旨在为研究淀粉合成及其调控提供理论依据。【方法】从化学诱变剂甲基亚硝基脲（1-methyl-1-nitroso-urea, MNU）处理的宁粳3号(Ningjing 3, WT)突变体库中筛选到一个能稳定遗传的胚乳粉质皱缩突变体，命名为fse4 (floury and shrunken 4 )。与籼稻品种Dular杂交获得F1种子（F2），通过图位克隆的策略确定FSE4候选基因。利用杂合植株（FSE4fse4）分离出的粉质种子，观察形态学特征，分析其理化性质。使用扫描电镜和半薄切片技术观察胚乳结构。使用qRT-PCR和免疫印迹分析淀粉合成相关基因表达模式和淀粉合成相关酶类的蛋白积累量。利用全自动氨基酸分析仪测定成熟胚乳各氨基酸含量。【结果】突变体fse4籽粒宽度、厚度以及千粒重显著下降，同时胚乳中总淀粉、总蛋白、直链淀粉含量亦显著下降，而脂肪含量显著上升；淀粉黏度、崩解值和消减值显著低于野生型。突变体fse4中多为单粒型淀粉颗粒，且排列分散。FSE4定位于第5染色体长臂约252 kb的区间内，测序发现编码Δ1-吡咯啉-5-羧酸合成酶基因 （Delta 1-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthetase, P5CS）第1外显子上发生单碱基替换，导致一保守的氨基酸发生变异。突变体fse4中大部分淀粉合成相关基因表达量下调，多种淀粉合成相关蛋白积累量减少。突变体fse4米粉中多种氨基酸含量发生显著变化，游离氨基酸含量是其野生型的3.6倍。此外，外源喷施脯氨酸能部分恢复突变体fse4种子萌发缺陷表型。【结论】FSE4编码脯氨酸合成关键限速酶P5CS，该基因对胚乳中氨基酸的合成及代谢起重要的调控作用，并影响淀粉的合成与积累。

关键词: 粉质胚乳；淀粉合成；基因克隆；&Delta, 1-吡咯啉-5-羧酸合成酶；氨基酸合成与代谢