Functional Validation Of The Elongated UppermostInternode Gene EU12 In Rice

The gene eui (elongated uppermost internode) is useful in hyhrid rice breeding. It has been used to improve panicle exsertion of rice male-sterile lines. The gene eui2 is a newly found one for it is nonallelic to the eui1 gene reported before. The gene was mapped onto the long arm of rice chromosome 10, and its candidate gene has been identified by fine mapping.In order to verify the EUI2 candidate gene, we used RNAi (RNA interference) technology to silence the candidate gene.A total of twelve transgenic (T₀) lines were obtained. Among them, a line was found to exhibit the mutant phenotype of elongated uppermost internode. T-test analysis showed that the mutant phenotype was significantly different from the wildtype phenotype. Molecular analysis indicated the EUI2 candidate gene was really silenced in the mutant transgenic line. Therefore, our work has proved that the candidate is correct.