New insight into the rice variant that helped to avert famine over thirty years ago.
Abstract
The chronic food shortage that was feared after the rapid expansion of the world population in the 1960s was averted largely by the development of a high-yielding semi-dwarf variety of rice known as IR8, the so-called rice 'green revolution'1,2,3. The short stature of IR8 is due to a mutation in the plant's sd1 gene, and here we identify this gene as encoding an oxidase enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of gibberellin, a plant growth hormone. Gibberellin is also implicated in green-revolution varieties of wheat, but the reduced height of those crops is conferred by defects in the hormone's signalling pathway4.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
196,21 € per year
only 3,85 € per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Hargrove, T. R. & Cabanilla, V. L. BioScience 29, 731–735 (1979).
Dalrymple, D. G. Development and Spread of High-yielding Rice Varieties in Developing Countries (Bur. Sci. Tech., Agency Int. Dev., Washington DC, 1986).
Khush, G. S. Genome 42, 646–655 (1999).
Peng, J. et al. Nature 400, 256–261 (1999).
Hooley, R. Plant Mol. Biol. 26, 1529–1555 (1994).
Ross, J. J., Murfet, I. C. & Reid, J. B. Physiol. Plant. 100, 550–560 (1997).
Hedden, P. & Phillips, A. L. Trends Plant Sci. 12, 523–530 (2000).
Toyomasu, T. et al. Physiol. Plant. 99, 111–118 (1997).
Xu, Y.-L. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 92, 6640–6644 (1995).
Maeda, H. et al. Breed. Sci. 47, 317–320 (1997).
Zhang, W., McElroy, D. & Wu, R. Plant Cell 3, 1155–1165 (1991).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sasaki, A., Ashikari, M., Ueguchi-Tanaka, M. et al. A mutant gibberellin-synthesis gene in rice. Nature 416, 701–702 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/416701a
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/416701a
This article is cited by
-
Gene editing of ZmGA20ox3 improves plant architecture and drought tolerance in maize
Plant Cell Reports (2024)
-
OsNAC103, an NAC transcription factor negatively regulates plant height in rice
Planta (2024)
-
Identification of Novel Quantitative Trait Loci for Culm Thickness of Rice Derived from Strong-Culm Landrace in Japan, Omachi
Rice (2023)
-
Reducing brassinosteroid signalling enhances grain yield in semi-dwarf wheat
Nature (2023)
-
Harnessing the role of genes involved in plant architectural changes
Plant Growth Regulation (2023)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.
