Ion-beam irradiation, gene identification, and marker-assisted breeding in the development of low-cadmium rice

Ishikawa, Satoru*; Ishimaru, Yasuhiro*; Igura, Masato*; Kuramata, Masato*; Abe, Tadashi*; Senoura, Takeshi*; Hase, Yoshihiro; Arao, Tomohito*; Nishizawa, Naoko*; Nakanishi, Hiromi*

Rice ( L.) is one of major sources of dietary intake of cadmium (Cd) for the human. However, the reliable technique to reduce substantially rice Cd contamination has not been offered so far. Here, we report the ion-beam irradiated rice mutants that do not nearly accumulate Cd in the grains and the mutant gene responsible for the Cd limitation. We found three mutants in which a favorable low-Cd trait is expressed by the different mutations on the same gene (), and the transporter encoded by the mutant gene had a defective function of root Cd influx. The mutants adapted well in the Cd-polluted paddy fields by exhibiting nearly non-detectable Cd concentrations in their grains in accordance with no adverse economic traits. The DNA marker has been developed to breed new cultivars carrying . Our findings would be useful for greatly reducing the Cd level of paddy rice.