GENETIC CONVERGENCE OF THE SPECIFIC ACID PHOSPHATASE ZYMOGRAMS IN ORYZA SATIVA

Abstract

In a number of rice cultivars, Oryza sativa, acid phosphatase zymograms were found to be of two kinds. Genetic experiments revealed that the isozymic difference between the two was due to alleles at Acp₁ and Acp₂ loci which are closely linked. Those two zymograms were detected in wild rice strains of O. perennis which is believed to be the wild progenitor of O. sativa. The genetic behavior of the isozymes was very similar to that of the isozymes of O. sativa. Although O. perennis showed many different acid phosphatase zymograms, semi-wild perennis-sativa strains were found like O. sativa to have the same two kinds. Probably, domestication, even in a primitive stage, may lead to genetic convergence for the genes specifying the acid phosphatase zymograms of rice.