Fine Mapping and Cloning of Leafy Head Mutant Gene pla1-5 in Rice

We identified a leafy head mutant plal-5 （plastochron 1-5） from the progeny of japonica rice cultivar Taipei 309 treated with 60Co-γ ray irradiation. The plal-5 mutant has a dwarf phenotype and small leaves. Compared with its wild type, plal-5 has more leaves and fewer tillers, and it fails to produce normal panicles at the maturity stage. Genetic analysis showed that the plal-5 phenotype is controlled by a single recessive nuclear gene. Using the map-based cloning strategy, we narrowed down the location of the target gene to a 58-kb region between simple sequence repeat markers CHR1027 and CHR1030 on the long arm of chromosome 10. The target gene cosegregated with molecular markers CHR1028 and CHR1029. There were five predicted genes in the mapped region. The results from sequencing analysis revealed that there was one base deletion in the first exon of LOC_Os10g26340 encoding cytochrome P450 CYP78A11 in the plal-5 mutant, which might result in a downstream frame shift and premature termination. These results suggest that the P450 CYP78A11 gene is the candidate gene of PLA1-5.