Functional Analysis of Several Rice WD Domain Genes by RNA Interference

To study the functions of WD domain genes in rice,eight WD domain genes were selected from rice and used to prepare RNA interference constructs for transformation.Transgenic plants were obtained from six of the RNAi constructs and phenotypic variations were observed in the transgenic plants with three genes(coded as E10,G04,and G05).The transgenic plants of E10 and G04 exhibited increase of the number of stigmas,and a transparent unknown organ was arisen from the basis of the stigmas in the E10 transgenic plants.The transgenic plants of G05 showed male sterility.The expressions of the targeted genes in the transgenic plants were suppressed as assayed by RT-PCR.These results show that the WD domain gene's functions in rice have correlations with the development of reproductive organs.