Genetic Improvement of Grain Quality in Japonica Rice - Translational Genomics for Crop Breeding: Abiotic Stress, Yield and Quality - page 155

genetics approach that can be used to decipher
plant genome sequences (Till et al. 2007; Tsai
et al. 2011). This approach can detect an allelic
series of silent, missense, and splicing alterations
in a target gene from mutant panels induced
by exposure to radiation and chemical muta-
gens. Application of TILLING in japonica rice
cultivars could prove the functional effects of
grain-quality genes. Successes in reverse-genetic
approaches will unlock real opportunities for tar-
geting grain components through the design of
rice plants that express novel genes and pathways
in their grains.
Recent studies of grain quality in japon-
ica rice cultivars have identified many genes
and QTLs involved in grain quality. However,
these results have been insufficient for the
directed improvement of cultivars showing both
high yield and high grain quality. Advances in
research efforts are still needed to improve grain-
quality traits in japonica rice cultivars.

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Acknowledgements

Our own research described in this review has
been supported by grants from the Ministry
of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan
(Integrated Research Project for Plant, Insect and
Animal using Genome Technology QT2011 and
Genomics for Agricultural Innovation NVR0001
and QTL4010). The authors thank Dr. Yoshi-
nobu Takeuchi and Dr. Keitaro Suzuki, National
Agriculture and Food Research Organization
(NARO) Institute of Crop Sciences, and Dr. Yozo
Okazaki, RIKEN Plant Science Center, for con-
tinuous support of our genetic studies of eating
quality in japonica rice cultivars.

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