Identification and Fine Mapping of Heading Date Related Mutant Gene in Rice

A rice heading-date-related mutant was isolated from a ⁶⁰Co-γ-ray-induced mutation pool of Zhejing 22, a conventional japonica cultivar in Zhejiang Province, China. The mutant was characterized by a delayed heading date of almost 20 d longer than the wild type plant. Genetic analysis revealed that the mutation was controlled by a single nuclear-encoded recessive gene that was designed as HD(t) (heading date tentatively). To isolate the HD(t) gene, a map-based cloning approach was employed using 479 F₂ mutant individual plants derived from the cross between the hd(t) mutant (japonica) × Zhenshan 97 (indica). Finally, the HD(t) gene was mapped to an approximate 53 kb region between the insertion and deletion (InDel) markers of 10-61W and 10-66W on chromosome 10. According to the genome sequence of Nipponbare, the target region contains 11 annotated genes. It is helpful for future cloning of HD(t) gene based on this fine mapping results.