IDENTIFICATION AND CANDIDATE GENE ANALYSIS OF RICE ZEBRA LEAF MUTANT zsd11.

A stably inherited zebra and semi-dwarf 11 (zsd11) mutant was selected from the Wuyunjing21 mutant library, which was perpendicular to the direction of the main leaf vein and alternated between yellow and green. The zebra phenotype of this mutant appeared at the seedling stage, and increased to the early tillering stage, then gradually weakened as the growth and development reached the late tillering stage to the early booting stage until the leaves completely turned yellow at maturity. In the seedling, tillering and maturation stages, the mutant pigment content was significantly reduced compared to the wild type. Correspondingly, the net photosynthetic rate and maximum photochemical efficiency in the photosynthesis indicators also dropped significantly. After maturation, the plant height, effective panicle number, thousand-grain weight, and the number of secondary branches of the mutant were significantly lower than the wild type. Genetic analysis exhibited that the phenotype is controlled by a pair of recessive nuclear genes. Through MutMap strategy and gene sequencing analysis, the candidate gene encodes carotenoid isomerase on chromosome 11. The first base G of the first intron mutates into A, resulting in the wrong splice recognition site during transcription. Comparative analysis of protein sequences showed that the evolutionary relationship between rice carotenoid isomerase and wheat, corn, and sorghum was very close. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]