Scientists Pinpoint Rice Genes that Determine Rice Eating And Cooking Quality

Genes regulating networks that determine eating and cooking quality have been pinpointed by a research team led by Li Jiayang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The results published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA will help to develop rice varieties with better taste.

Rice eating and cooking quality are determined by three properties of amylose content, gel consistency and gelatinization temperature as well as the interaction among them, of which the underlying mechanism remains unclear. The research team found interaction among 18 genes related to starch synthesis cooperating with each other through an association analysis approach. The major and minor starch synthesis- related genes determining these three properties were defined as well as the correlation among them, which revealed a fine regulating network that controls the eating and cooking quality. These results have been verified through genetic transformation which lay a theoretical basis for the molecular design and genetic modification of rice quality. Studies have shown that the three properties of rice can be changed simultaneously by biotechnology or molecular marker-assisted breeding technology to achieve high-quality in high-yield rice varieties.

The paper is available for subscribers at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/12/11/0912396106