Two weak dormancy mutants, designated Q4359 and Q4646, were obtained from the rice cultivar N22 after treatment with 400 Gy (60) Co gamma-radiation. Compared to the N22 cultivar, the dormancy of the mutant seeds was more readily broken when exposed to a period of room temperature storage. The mutants also showed a reduced level of sensitivity to abscisic acid compared to the N22 cultivar, although Q4359 was more insensitive than Q4646. A genetic analysis indicated that in both mutants, the reduced dormancy trait was caused by a single recessive allele of a nuclear gene, but that the mutated locus was different in each case. The results of quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping, based on the F(2) population from Q4359 x Nanjing35, suggested that Q4359 lacks the QTL qSdn-1 and carries a novel allele at QTL qSdn-9, while a similar analysis of the Q4646 x Nanjing35 F(2) population suggested that Q4646 lacks QTL qSdn-5, both qSdn-1 and qSdn-5 are major effect seed dormancy QTL in N22. Therefore, these two mutants were helpful to understand the mechanism of seed dormancy in N22.
© 2011 Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences.