Effect of ethyl methanesulfonate mediated mutation for enhancing morpho-physio-biochemical and yield contributing traits of fragrant rice

Areeqa Shamshad; Muhammad Rashid; Ljupcho Jankuloski; Kamran Ashraf; Khawar Sultan; Saud Alamri; Manzer H Siddiqui; Tehzeem Munir; Qamar Uz Zaman

doi:10.7717/peerj.15821

Effect of ethyl methanesulfonate mediated mutation for enhancing morpho-physio-biochemical and yield contributing traits of fragrant rice

PeerJ. 2023 Sep 26:11:e15821. doi: 10.7717/peerj.15821. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Areeqa Shamshad¹, Muhammad Rashid¹, Ljupcho Jankuloski², Kamran Ashraf^{3

4}, Khawar Sultan⁵, Saud Alamri⁶, Manzer H Siddiqui⁶, Tehzeem Munir⁵, Qamar Uz Zaman⁵

Affiliations

¹ Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology College (NIAB-C), PIEAS, Islamabad, Pakistan.
² International Atomic Energy Agency, Joint FAO/IAEA Centre, Plant Breeding and Genetics Section, Vienna, Austria.
³ Department of Bioengineering and Biotechnology, School of Biotechnology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Food Sciences, Government College University Faisalabad, Sahiwal Campus, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
⁵ Department of Environmental Sciences, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan.
⁶ Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Background: Chemical mutagenesis has been successfully used for increasing genetic diversity in crop plants. More than 800 novel mutant types of rice (Oryza sativa L.) have been developed through the successful application of numerous mutagenic agents. Among a wide variety of chemical mutagens, ethyl-methane-sulfonate (EMS) is the alkylating agent that is most commonly employed in crop plants because it frequently induces nucleotide substitutions as detected in numerous genomes.

Methods: In this study, seeds of the widely consumed Basmati rice variety (Super Basmati, Oryza sativa L.) were treated with EMS at concentrations of 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75%, 1.0%, and 1.25% to broaden its narrow genetic base.

Results: Sensitivity to a chemical mutagen such as ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) was determined in the M1 generation. Results in M1 generation revealed that as the levels of applied EMS increased, there was a significant reduction in the germination percent, root length, shoot length, plant height, productive tillers, panicle length, sterile spikelet, total spikelet, and fertility percent as compared to the control under field conditions. All the aforementioned parameters decreased but there was an increase in EMS mutagens in an approximately linear fashion. Furthermore, there was no germination at 1.25% of EMS treatment for seed germination. A 50% germination was recorded between 0.50% and 0.75% EMS treatments. After germination, the subsequent parameters, viz. root length and shoot length had LD₅₀ between 05.0% and 0.75% EMS dose levels. Significant variation was noticed in the photosynthetic and water related attributes of fragrant rice. The linear increase in the enzymatic attributes was noticed by the EMS mediated treatments. After the establishment of the plants in the M1 generation in the field, it was observed that LD₅₀ for fertility percentage was at EMS 1.0% level, for the rice variety.

Conclusion: Hence, it is concluded that for creating genetic variability in the rice variety (Super Basmati), EMS doses from 0.5% to 0.75% are the most efficient, and effective.

Keywords: Ethyl methanesulfonate; Germination; Lethal dose; Mutation; Productivity; Rice.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Ethyl Methanesulfonate / pharmacology
Mutagenesis
Mutagens / toxicity
Mutation
Oryza* / genetics

Substances

Ethyl Methanesulfonate
Mutagens

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Researchers Supporting Project number (RSP2023R194), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.