Physiological and phenotypical effects of the overexpression of the OVP1 gene in Japonica rice

Abstract The objective of this work was to evaluate the physiological, phenotypic, and gene expression parameters in genetically modified (GM) rice plants that overexpress the Oryza sativa Vacuolar H+-Pyrophosphatase 1 (OVP1) gene, compared with non-genetically modified (NGM) rice. GM and NGM plants of the BRSMG Curinga cultivar were evaluated in two experiments, in a laboratory and greenhouse, in a randomized complete block design, with four replicates. Agronomic traits of interest were estimated, and transcriptome analysis and gene expression quantification were carried out. GM plants showed a 31 and 21% higher number of spikelets per panicle and total number of grains per panicle, respectively, in comparison with NGM plants. Physiological changes occurred during the grain-filling stage, in which GM plants presented a photosynthetic rate and carboxylation efficiency 61 and 89% higher than those of NGM plants, respectively. The overexpression of the OVP1 gene favors the upregulation of some photosynthesis genes and the increase in the number of spikelets and in the photosynthetic rate, but does not favor the increase in grain yield.