A research group led by Professor Takeshi Izawa of the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences has created a rice line that can bloom at the timing desired by growers through joint research with the Agricultural and Biological Resources Research Institute.

　The florigen gene is endogenous to rice, and this gene is essential for flower bud formation.The group first succeeded in producing rice that does not bloom by artificially suppressing the action of the endogenous florigen gene.The group also introduced an artificial florigen gene into rice that was modified to induce flowering only when treatment with a resistance inducer was added, and confirmed the induction of flowering.

　By combining these two functions, we succeeded in creating a rice line that does not bloom at all unless a resistance inducer type commercial pesticide is sprayed, but only when sprayed, it blooms after about 40 to 45 days.Depending on the rice line created this time, there was also a line with improved rice yield.

　Until now, the flowering period of rice was largely determined by the cultivation area, and the fact that the flowering period could not be changed significantly narrowed the range of breeding, but if this technology is put into practical use in the not too distant future, growers will It will be possible to harvest rice at the desired time.It is expected that the cultivation method and timing can be optimized according to the environment of the cultivation area, leading to improvement in productivity and quality.

Paper information:[Nature Plants] Synthetic control of flowering in rice independent of the cultivation environment (English)