Abstract
To identify useful genes of rice, we generated rice FOX (full-length cDNA overexpressor) lines that rice full-length cDNAs were over-expressed in Arabidopsis plants. In this study, we have used imaging of chlorophyll fluorescence to screen photosynthesis-related mutants. So far, we screened about 6,000 lines and isolated 23 candidates with altered chlorophyll fluorescence parameters. Isolated mutants could be classified into several categories depending on these parameters. Moreover, chlorophyll fluorescence was also measured after high-light treatment (1,000 μE, 1 h) to isolate high-light tolerant mutants. We isolated 2 lines that showed tolerance to high light from about 2,500 lines. In these mutants, various rice cDNAs were transformed into Arabidopsis such as cDNAs encoding enzymes that have a chloroplast transit peptide, transcriptional-related proteins and unknown proteins. This research is supported by the Special coordination funds for Promoting Science and Technology entitled Rapid identification of useful traits using rice full-length cDNAs.
