Sasaki A, Ashikari M, Ueguchi-Tanaka M, Itoh H, Nishimura A, Swapan D, Ishiyama K, Saito T, Kobayashi M, Khush G S, Kitano H, Matsuoka M
Bioscience Center, Nagoya University, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan.
Nature. 2002 Apr 18;416(6882):701-2. doi: 10.1038/416701a.
The chronic food shortage that was feared after the rapid expansion of the world population in the 1960s was averted largely by the development of a high-yielding semi-dwarf variety of rice known as IR8, the so-called rice 'green revolution'. The short stature of IR8 is due to a mutation in the plant's sd1 gene, and here we identify this gene as encoding an oxidase enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of gibberellin, a plant growth hormone. Gibberellin is also implicated in green-revolution varieties of wheat, but the reduced height of those crops is conferred by defects in the hormone's signalling pathway.
20世纪60年代世界人口迅速增长后曾令人担忧的长期粮食短缺，很大程度上因一种名为IR8的高产半矮秆水稻品种的培育得以避免，即所谓的水稻“绿色革命”。IR8的矮秆特性源于该植物sd1基因的突变，我们在此确定该基因编码一种参与植物生长激素赤霉素生物合成的氧化酶。赤霉素也与小麦的绿色革命品种有关，但这些作物的矮化是由激素信号通路缺陷导致的。
