Objective  To carry out genetic analysis and gene mapping of purple leaf character in the rice material pl41, and provide a foundation for pl41 gene map-based cloning, function research and application in rice breeding.

Method  The genetically stable purple leaf germplasm pl41 was derived from the hybrids of a purple leaf indica cultivar ‘Z3474’ and a green leaf japonica cultivar ‘Nipponbare’. The phenotypic characteristics of pl41 were surveyed. pl41 was crossed with ‘Nipponbare’, then F₁ and F₂ segregation progenies were used for genetic analysis and preliminary mapping of pl41 gene.

Result  The purple character of pl41 firstly appeared in leaf sheath, leaf apex and leaf margin at seedling stage, then the aboveground parts of pl41 plant presented dark purple at heading stage. Compared to ‘Nipponbare’, chlorophyll content of pl41 was significantly higher at seedling stage, significantly lower at heading stage and there was no significant difference at filling stage. Anthocyanin contents of pl41 were all significantly higher than those of ‘Nipponbare’ at seedling, heading and filling stages. The purple leaf character of pl41 was controlled by a pair of recessive nuclear genes, which was mapped to a 289 kb region on the short arm of chromosome 12. By sequencing for coding sequences of five genes within this mapped region, no difference was found in coding sequences of these genes between Pl41 and ‘Nipponbare’.

Conclusion  The region of rice purple leaf gene pl41 is mapped preliminarily. The exact determination of pl41 depends on fine mapping, sequence alignment analysis and transcription analysis of candidate genes.