Abstract
BACKGROUND: Amylose accumulation in rice grains is controlled by genetic and environmental factors. Amylose content is a determinant factor of rice quality in terms of cooking and eating. Great variations in amylose content in indica rice cultivars have been observed. The current study was to identify differentially expressed proteins in starch and sucrose metabolism and glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathways and their relationships to amylose synthesis using two rice cultivars possess contrasting phenotypes in grain amylose content. RESULTS: Synthesis and accumulation of amylose in rice grains significantly affected the variations between rice cultivars in amylose contents. The high amylose content cultivar has three down-regulated differentially expressed proteins, i.e., LOC_Os01g62420.1, LOC_Os02g36600.1, and LOC_Os08g37380.2 in the glycolysis/gluconeogenesis pathway, which limit the glycolytic process and decrease the glucose-1-phosphate consumption. In the starch and sucrose metabolic pathway, an up-regulated protein, i.e., LOC_Os06g04200.1 and two down-regulated proteins, i.e., LOC_Os05g32710.1 and LOC_Os04g43360.1 were identified (Figure 4). Glucose-1-phosphate is one of the first substrates in starch synthesis and glycolysis that are catalyzed to form adenosine diphosphate glucose (ADPG), then the ADPG is catalyzed by granule-bound starch synthase I (GBSS I) to elongate amylose. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that decreasing the consumption of glucose-1-phosphate in the glycolytic process is essential for the formation of ADPG and UDPG, which are substrates for amylose synthesis. In theory, amylose content in rice can be regulated by controlling the fate of glucose-1-phosphate.