Transgenic rice with reduced glutelin content by transformation with glutelin A antisense gene

Rice plants were genetically transformed with a glutelin A antisensegene construct that was characterized by eight tandem repeats of a ca.0.3 kb fragment at the 5′ end of full-length glutelin AcDNA.Two transgenic rice lines, H39-59 and H75-3, homozygous for the glutelin Aantisense gene were selected from T2 plants, and their T4generation was examined. When grown in an open paddy field, T4plantsof both transgenic lines showed 20% to 40% reduction in theglutelin content of seeds and an increase in the prolamine content. The totalseed-protein content of the two transgenic lines was not significantlydifferentfrom that of the original variety, Tsukinohikari. Northern blot analysisrevealed that the steady-state levels of glutelin A transcript also decreasedand those of prolamine transcript increased in both H39-59 and H75-3 transgeniclines, and the changes in glutelin mRNA corresponded to changes observed inglutelins during seed development. Rice wine, sake, brewed from grains of thetransgenic lines was found to contain 20% to 40% less amino acidsand was evaluated as superior in quality to that made from the non-transgenicrice grains.