Functional analysis of the rice anther-specific gene OsCER1B involved in wax biosynthesis

Abstract

We have identified two novel genes which highly express in the rice anther by microarray analysis using cDNA prepared from reproductive organs. These genes were named as OsCER1 and OsCER1B since they have sequence similarity to the Arabidopsis CER1 gene. CER1 is known to be involved in the wax biosynthesis in the Arabidopsis pollen, stem, and leaf, whose mutation has been demonstrated to result in a conditional male sterile. We found two mutant alleles of the rice OsCER1B in which Tos17 was inserted in the exon region. Fertility of these mutants was drastically decreased probably because of defects in a pollen formation. We are now analyzing the pollen structures of these mutants to elucidate the function of OsCER1B in the rice pollen formation. In addition, we identified two more genes related with CER1 in the rice genome. Gene expression profiles of four CER1-related genes are under investigation.