Rice containing endophytic bacteria and method of producing it

• US 7,084,331 B2
• Filed: 05/02/2002
• Issued: 08/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mayekawa Manufacturing Company Limited (Mayekawa Holding AG), Society For Techno-Innovation Of Agriculture, Forestry And Fisheries
• Original Assignee: Mayekawa Manufacturing Company Limited (Mayekawa Holding AG), Society For Techno-Innovation Of Agriculture, Forestry And Fisheries
• Inventors: Imada, Takahiro, Hiruma, Naoya, Isawa, Tsuyoshi, Noda, Munehiro, Kon, Madoka, Kurihara, Yohsuke
• Primary Examiner(s): HAAS, WENDY C
• Application Number:
  US10/139,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20030135898A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,552 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 800/320.1
• CPC Class Codes: A01H 3/00 Processes for modifying phenotypes , e.g. symbiosis with bacteria A01H4/00 takes precedence

Abstract

The present invention provides a rice plant that shows enhanced growth and increased seed production, which also enables reduction of the use of chemical fertilizers.

In the present invention, a nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacterium is isolated from bacteria symbiotically inhabiting natural plants, the isolated endophytic bacterium is artificially proliferated and then artificially inoculated into rice plants, and thus, the nitrogen-fixing endophytic bacteria are allowed to infect to rice plants.

Claims

1. A rice plant produced by artificially introducing an endophytic bacterium into a rice plant that is free of endophytic bacteria, wherein said introduced endophytic bacteria is Herbaspirillum FERM BP-10395 or Azospirillum FERM BP-10447, which have been deposited in the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

2. The rice plant of claim 1, wherein said introduced endophytic bacteria is engaged in nitrogen fixation for the rice plants.

3. The rice plant of claim 1, wherein said rice plant, into which an endophytic bacterium is introduced, is cultivated rice Oryza sativa or wild rice Oryza officinalis.

4. An isolated bacterium selected from the group consisting of a bacterium deposited as accession number FERM BP-10395 and a bacterium deposited as accession number FERM BP-10447, both deposited at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

5. A method for introducing an endophytic bacterium into a rice plant, comprising the following steps of:

isolating and proliferating an endophytic bacterium which inhabits a plant;

artificially inoculating the artificially proliferated endophytic bacteria into the rice plant; and

infecting the rice plant with the artificially inoculated endophytic bacteria to form a symbiosis, wherein said introduced endophytic bacteria is Herbaspirillum FERM BP-10395 or Azospirillum FERM BP-10447, which have been deposited in the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said plant presumed to form a symbiosis with a bacterium is homogenized and plated on a medium for culturing and isolating the bacterium.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said isolated bacterium is placed and sealed up in a container having acetylene and the bacterium is selected by determining the nitrogen fixation activity of the isolated bacterium by measuring ethylene generated by the reduction of acetylene.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein DNA from the isolated bacterium is amplified by PCR and homology search is performed for the amplified DNA to identify the bacterium.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein a foreign gene expressing an identifiable means is introduced into said bacterium, wherein said identifiable means expressed from said foreign gene is used to identify whether said bacterium has colonized.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the rice plant into which the bacterium is inoculated to form a symbiosis is placed and sealed in a container having acetylene and the ability of said plant to fix nitrogen is evaluated by measuring ethylene generated by the reduction of said acetylene.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein said inoculation is performed by inoculation comprising bacterial cell adhesion to seeds.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein said inoculation is performed by inoculation comprising penetration of seeds.