Induction of somatic instability in stable yellow leaf mutant of rice by ion beam irradiation

Any class II type active transposons have not been discovered in rice though transposon (mobile element) is very useful for gene isolation in several plant species. In order to capture somatic instability induced by an endogenous active transposon in rice, stable yellow leaf plants derived from a variegated yellow leaf (yl-v) mutant found in F2 of a cross between distantly related rice varieties were irradiated with carbon and helium ion beams. In M1 plants derived from the seeds irradiated with 50 Gy of 220 MeV carbon ions, a variegated yl plant was generated and this plant showed small or large sectors in leaves expanded later. Most of panicle-row M2 lines segregated into variegated and stable yl plants. In total, the ratio of variegated to stable yl plants was 3:1, suggesting that clear variegation observed on M1 plants might be caused by activation of a cryptic inactive autonomous element by carbon ion beam irradiation.