Inheritance Analysis of Giant Embryo Mutation Induced by T-DNA Insertion in Rice

Recently, giant embryonic rice and functional rice food are preferred by more consumers, which are attributed to the fact that the embryo has high concentrations of essential amino acids, fatty acids, and vitamins relative to other parts of rice grains. In this report, the heredity and stability of giant embryo mutations in successive generations were analyzed regarding a giant embryonic line, 'P47', induced by T-DNA insertion and a $F_2$ population from a cross between 'P47' and 'Junam'. The mutant lines with increases of 1.5, 1.7 and 1.8 times on embryo length, width and 100-embryo weight to those of the control showed stable inheritance across three generations. The continuous frequency distributions of embryo size in the $F_2$ population showed that the embryo size is a quantitative trait of polygene controlled. In addition, wide range of transgressive segregations of six traits affecting embryo size confirmed exchange of genetic materials and recombination between genes controlling embryo size. Five giant embryo mutant lines selected from the $F_2$ population will be used for artificial selection and improvement of giant embryonic varieties.