Rowena Oane

Antisense probes were used, except where indicated. Arrows point to megaspore mother cells (MeMCs). Dotted lines indicate the margins of the nucellus. Scale bar: 20 μm.<b>Copyright information:</b>Taken from "OsTDL1A binds to the LRR domain of rice receptor kinase MSP1, and is required to limit sporocyte numbers"The Plant Journal 2008;54(3):375-387.Published online Jan 2008PMCID:PMC2408674.© 2008 International Rice Research Institute. Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Nipponbare, -RNAi plant #4363 and homozygous mutant. (a–e) 3-mm spikelets. (f) 7-mm spikelets. (a, c, e, f) Fast green-safranin O staining. (b, d) Aniline blue staining. (a) Transverse section of anther. (b) Longitudinal section of anther. (c–f) Longitudinal sections of ovule. Leptotene–pachytene–zygotene figures are indicated by arrows. Scale bars: 25 μm.<b>Copyright information:</b>Taken from "OsTDL1A binds to the LRR domain of rice receptor kinase MSP1, and is required to limit sporocyte numbers"The Plant Journal 2008;54(3):375-387.Published online Jan 2008PMCID:PMC2408674.© 2008 International Rice Research Institute. Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

(a) Spikelets of T plants: 1–7, independent transformants (4359, 4363, 4374, 4375, 4376, 4378 and 4379, respectively); C, non-transgenic control. DNA and RNA were extracted from 3-mm spikelets and analyzed by PCR for and , and by RT-PCR for , , and . (b) Spikelets of T progeny from T transformant 4363: 1–4, T progeny; C, control plant. RNA was extracted from 3-mm spikelets and analyzed by RT-PCR for and . Longitudinal sections of 3-mm spikelets were stained with acridine orange. Leptotene–pachytene–zygotene figures are indicated by arrows. Scale bars: 20 μm.<b>Copyright information:</b>Taken from "OsTDL1A binds to the LRR domain of rice receptor kinase MSP1, and is required to limit sporocyte numbers"The Plant Journal 2008;54(3):375-387.Published online Jan 2008PMCID:PMC2408674.© 2008 International Rice Research Institute. Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

a: Unrooted dendrogram based on full-length protein sequences of TPD1, its closest homologs and other related proteins in Arabidopsis and rice. Rice proteins are boxed. Accession numbers for cDNAs: TPD1, AY394849; AtTDL1, BX816721; OsTDL1A, AK108523; OsTDL1B, AK121594. b: Full-length protein alignments for TPD1, AtTDL1, OsTDL1A and OsTDL1B. Sequences were aligned with the BCM Search Launcher program (). Residues identical to those of TPD1 are highlighted in black. Signal peptides predicted by SP-NN are underlined. A line has been placed above the region that is most highly conserved among the four proteins.<b>Copyright information:</b>Taken from "OsTDL1A binds to the LRR domain of rice receptor kinase MSP1, and is required to limit sporocyte numbers"The Plant Journal 2008;54(3):375-387.Published online Jan 2008PMCID:PMC2408674.© 2008 International Rice Research Institute. Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

RT-PCR for , and genes with RNA from various tissues. Meiosis in the anther and the ovule is most commonly seen in 3-mm spikelets.<b>Copyright information:</b>Taken from "OsTDL1A binds to the LRR domain of rice receptor kinase MSP1, and is required to limit sporocyte numbers"The Plant Journal 2008;54(3):375-387.Published online Jan 2008PMCID:PMC2408674.© 2008 International Rice Research Institute. Journal compilation © 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

There is a widespread consensus that drought will mostly affect present and future agriculture negatively. Generating drought-tolerant crops is thus a high priority. However complicated the underlying genetic and regulatory networks for differences in plant performance under stress are, they would be reflected in straightforward differences in primary metabolites. This is because primary metabolites such as amino acids and sugars form the building blocks of all pathways and processes for growth, development, reproduction, and environmental responses. Comparison of such differences was undertaken between the parental line and a near-isogenic line of qDTY 12.1 , a QTL for rice yield under drought. The comparison was informative regarding the effect of the QTL in three genetic backgrounds: donor, recipient, and improved recipient, thus illustrating the gene × gene (G × G) interactions. Such a comparison when extended to well-watered and drought conditions illustrated the gene × environment (G × E) interactions. Assessment of such G × G and G × E responses in roots, flag leaves, and spikelets added a yet more informative dimension of tissue-specific responses to drought, mediated by qDTY 12.1 . Data on variation in primary metabolites subjected to ANOVA, Tukey's test, Welch's t test, and PCA underscored the importance of the roots and demonstrated concordance between variation in metabolites and morpho-physiological responses to drought. Results suggested that for gainful insights into rice yield under drought, rather than vegetative stage drought tolerance, multiple tissues and genotypes must be assessed at the reproductive stage to avoid misleading conclusions about using particular metabolites or related genes and proteins as candidates or markers for drought tolerance.