The rice selfish gene was first discovered

June 7 EST,
published the results of a joint study between the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Nanjing Agricultural University, announcing the first detection of the rice selfish gene and the creative use of selfish genetic models to reveal rice hybrid infertility.
gene refers to a gene that, after two parents interbreed, is passed on to offspring first by the parent or mother who can control his or her own DNA fragments. It enables the parent's own genetic information to be more and faster to copy, and can be more transmitted to children, its genetic does not conform to the Mondel genetic law. In 2017, Science reported on non-Mendel genetics of the selfish genes of mice and worms. This is the first time selfish genes have been found in plants.
the hybrid rice between the subseeds of rice can further improve the yield by 15%-30% compared with the current hybrid rice, but 50% of the offspring of the hybrids are infertile, which seriously restricts the increase of the yield of the hybrid rice. Wan Jianmin, author of the paper and a researcher at the Crop Science Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, told China Science Daily that the team systematically analyzed the problem and genetic characteristics of hybrid infertility between wild rice and cultivated rice using Asian cultivated rice varieties and southern wild rice as research materials.
they found that the infertility of the hybrid was controlled by the rice selfish gene bit qHMS7, and found that it contained three tightly chained genes ORF1, ORF2, and ORF3, where the ORF1 gene encoded an unknown function of the Protein; The ORF2 gene encodes a toxic protein that kills the match, causing pollen death with a maternal effect; and the ORF3 gene encodes a detoxifying protein to protect the matchcing son with the ligation effect, making pollen carrying the ORF3 gene available.Yu Xiaowen, the first author of the
paper and a postdoctoral student at Nanjing Agricultural University's School of Agriculture, told reporters that indica varieties also carry toxic ORF2 and detoxifying ORF3, while wild rice in the south contains only non-toxic ORF2. Thus, in the hybrid offspring of the two, pollen carrying the southern wild rice genotype died due to lack of ORF3 protection, pollen carrying the genotype of indica varieties survived because of ORF3 protection, resulting in the existence of no pure southern wild rice genotype individuals in the offspring, group separation does not conform to the classic Mendel genetic model. Here, indica is protected by the selfish gene ORF3, allowing its matching son to survive and give priority to future generations.
This study expounds the molecular mechanism of selfish genes in maintaining the stability of plant genomes and promoting the formation of new species, discusses the universality of toxicity-detoxifying molecular mechanisms in rice hybrid infertility, and provides theoretical reference for revealing the nature of selective death of hybrid female matching sons among rice slug subsethics.
Wan Jianmin said that on the basis of in-depth understanding of the molecular genetic mechanism of rice hybrid infertility, gene editing technology can be used to edit and delete selfish genes with toxic function, create a new variety of rice with broad affinity, realize the effective use of the advantages of hybrids, and provide a basis for the cultivation of hybrid rice varieties between the subseeds. (Source: Science Network Li Chen)