Preliminary study on a gravity-insensitive rice mutant

A gravity-insensitive mutant was isolated from rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Zhonghua 11) transformed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The mutant's shoot growth (prostrate growth) was insensitive to gravity; whereas root growth displayed a normal positive gravitropism. Histological observation of root caps and leaf sheaths indicated that there was no significant difference in the number and size of amyloplasts in cells of the mutant and cells of the wild type.