Scientists Identify Rice Gene to Improve Yield

A team of scientists, including Hong Ma, Penn State distinguished professor of biology, has identified a gene in rice that controls the size and weight of rice grains. The gene has the potential to help breed high-yield rice. The team’s results were published in an online edition of the journal Nature Genetics.

The scientists hope that their findings will help create hybrid varieties of rice that produce larger grains. They plan to perform additional analyses that will help them to understand how other genes might be involved in the process of improving rice yield. "The goal is to understand what controls grain weight and other factors, and to look for ways to increase yield," said Ma.

The research was supported by grants from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Science Foundation of China and the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences.

See Penn State’s news article at http://live.psu.edu/story/34885