The effects of ubiquitin-related modifier gene Rurm1 on the oxidative stress response induced by methylviologen in rice

Abstract

A slender glume mutant line IM294, which was induced with gamma irradiation of seeds of Gimbozu, has a nonfunctional Rurm1 (Rice ubiquitin-related modifier-1) gene. Yeast Urm1p, which shares about 41% sequence identity with RURM1, involves in oxidative stress response via the posttranscriptional modification of antioxidant protein Ahp1p, indicating that Rurm1 may function in the oxidative stress response in rice. In this study, we evaluated sensitivity against methylviologen (MV) to elucidate the role of Rurm1 in oxidative stress response in rice. Although the chlorophyll content largely decreased with the increase of MV concentration, there was no significant difference about the degree of decreased chlorophyll content between Gimbozu and IM294. It was therefore indicated that Rurm1 did not involve in the stress defense mechanism against MV in rice.