Red Pericarp Gene of Rice

   
Contact: Susan McCouch
Organization: Cornell University
Source: Sweeney, M.T., Thomson, M.J., Pfiel, B.E., McCouch, S.R. (2006) Caught red-handed: Rc encodes a basic helix-loop-helix protein conditioning red pericarp in rice. Plant Cell. 18:283-294.
Criteria: The Rc locus was positionally cloned from rice. A mapping population between a cultivar (Jefferson) with the recessive, null allele, rc was crossed with a dominant allele ( Rc) Oryza sativa with red pericarp. By recombination analysis, a small stretch of genomic sequence was delimited within which an open reading frame annotated as a bHLH containing protein was identified. The null allele in Jefferson was found to be identical to that of Nipponbare, and has a 14bp indel that introduces a frameshift resulting in a premature stop codon. This frameshift,resulting in a white pericarp, occurs upstream of the basic helix-loop-helix motif responsible for the regulation of proanthocyanidin production. A second functional allele, Rc-s was cloned from an indica cultivar and confirmed that the Rc locus was the source of the red pericarp phenotype.
   

LOC_Os07g11020

Gene Name: rc
Gene Description: bHLH transcription factor regulating proanthocyanidin production in seeds
MSU Annotation: rc - bHLH transcription factor regulating proanthocyanidin production in seeds
GenBank cDNA Acc: DQ204736
Comment: The null allele rc DQ204736 (cv Jefferson) is identical to Nipponbare (shown here). Two other alleles: 1)Rc DQ204737 (O. rufipogon) - the dominant functional allele; Rc-s DQ204738 (cv Surjamkuhi)which has brown spots on a reddish background.
Structural Annotation:  

 

NSF Logo This work is supported by grants (DBI-0321538/DBI-0834043) from the National Science Foundation.