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Spontaneous mutations are stochastic phenomena that occur in every population. However, deleterious mutated allele present in seeds distributed to farmers must be detected and removed. Here, we eliminated undesirable mutations from the parent population in one generation through a strategy based on next-generation sequencing (NGS). This study dealt with a spontaneous albino mutant in the 'Hinohikari' rice variety grown at the Miyazaki Comprehensive Agricultural Experiment Station, Japan. The incidence of albinism in the population was 1.36%. NGS analysis revealed the genomic basis for differences between green and albino phenotypes. Every albino plant had a C insertion in the Snow-White Leaf1 (SWL1) gene on chromosome 4 causing a frameshift mutation. Selfing plants heterozygous for the mutant allele, swl1-R332P, resulted in a 3:1 green/albino ratio, confirming that a single recessive gene controls albinism. Ultrastructural leaf features in the swl1-R332P mutants displayed deformed chlorophyll-associated organelles in albino plants that were similar to those of previously described swl1 mutants. Detection of the causative gene and its confirmation using heterozygous progenies were completed within a year. The NGS technique outlined here facilitates rapid identification of spontaneous mutations that can occur in breeder seeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of studies dealing with plant cell organelles presented during the 69th annual meeting of the Botanical Society of Japan. "The Effect of Mitochondrial and Chloroplast DNA Syntheses Inhibitor 5FdUrd on non-Mendelian Inheritance of Organellar Genes in Chlamydomoras," by Soichi Nakamura and Tuneyoshi Kuroiwa; "Visualization of Plastid Nucleoids in Situ Using the PEND-GFP Fusion Protein," by Kimihiro Terasawa and colleagues; "Overexpression of Phage-type RNA Polymerases in Physcomitrella Patens," by Yukihiro Kabeya and colleagues.

Presents abstracts of studies on plant cell organelles and cell membrane, presented at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Botanical Society of Japan held at the Shonan Campus of Nihon University in Japan from September 9 to 12, 2004. "The Effect of Physiological Inhibitors on Paternal Transmission of Mitochondrial DNA in Chlamydomonas," by Nakamura Soichi and Kuroiwa Tsuneyoshi; "Electrophysiological Studies on Wounding Response in Chara Corallina," by Teruo Shimmen; "Protein Aggregates in Tobacco Suspension-cultured Cells Are Transported to Vacuoles by Autophagic Mechanism Under Nutrient Starvation," by Kiminori Toyooka, Masaki Takeuchi et al.