Screening of rice genes conferring tolerance to environmental stresses by Rice FOX Hunting System

Abstract

To identify rice genes that confer tolerance to environmental stresses, we are taking advantage of FOX Hunting System. In this study, we are planning to perform two types of screening. The first one is "conventional FOX hunting" (c-FOX), where transgenic rice lines containing rice full-length cDNA (rice FOX lines) are screened at T0 and T1 generations under salinity stress condition. The second strategy is "targeted FOX hunting" (t-FOX), for which ~100 candidate genes (TOP100) are listed for examination under various stress conditions to select most useful genes conferring stress tolerance. We are also evaluating rice cultivars with higher stress tolerance, to test as a host plant for further combinational analysis of the selected FOX genes. Details of the project and how to establish extremely tolerant lines using the selected materials will be discussed.