In this study a mapping population (F8) of ca 200 progeny from a cross between the commercial rice varieties Apo and IR64 has been both genotyped and phenotyped. A genotyping-by-sequencing approach was first used to identify 2,681 polymorphic SNP markers which gave dense coverage of the genome with a good distribution across all 12 chromosomes. The coefficient of parentage was also low, at 0.13...

BACKGROUND Rice is sensitive to salt stress, especially at the seedling stage, with rice varieties differing remarkably in salt tolerance (ST). To understand the physiological mechanisms of ST, we investigated salt stress responses at the metabolite level. METHODS Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to profile metabolite changes in the salt-tolerant line FL478 and the sensitive vari...

The development of rice varieties for dry direct-seeded conditions can be accelerated by selecting suitable traits. In the present investigation, traits hypothesized to be important for direct-seeded conditions in rainfed systems, including seedling emergence, early vegetative vigour, nutrient uptake, nodal root number, and root hair length and density, were characterized to study the genetic c...

Higher spikelet sterility due to heat stress exposure during flowering in rice is becoming a major threat for sustaining productivity in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Therefore, exploiting and incorporating early morning flowering (EMF) trait into ongoing breeding pipelines could be an effective strategy to minimize the damage. In this study, we have focused on quantifying the time of day ...

The GATA gene family is one of the most conserved families of transcription factors, playing a significant role in different aspects of cellular processes, in organisms ranging from fungi to angiosperms. GATA transcription factors are DNA-binding proteins, having a class IV zinc-finger motif CX2CX17-20CX2C followed by a highly basic region and are known to bind a consensus sequence WGATAR. In p...

Salinity is one of the major environmental factors limiting growth and productivity of crop plants in coastal areas and irrigated farmlands. Salinity tolerance is a very complex trait. Plants adapt to salinity stress by coordinated and orchestrated functioning of various complex mechanisms. In Arabidopsis thaliana, SOS (Salt Overly Sensitive) pathway has been established as a major player in io...