这是该团队继今年相继分离克隆出Ghd7和S5基因之后，在水稻功能基因组研究领域取得的又一项重大突破。该成果发表在9月2日的《美国科学院院刊》PNAS上。 （相关报道详见生物通前期报道：张启发院士课题组《自然•遗传学》发新成果     张启发院士研究组发现水稻重要基因）

      插下的水稻秧苗经过两个月左右的生长，便开始开花、抽穗，继而结出金灿灿的稻子。伴随着叶黄茎枯，一个周期的生命历程便宣告终结。而张启发团队寻找到水稻成花的分子开关——RID1基因。去掉这个基因，水稻将一直处于营养生长阶段，只长茎叶，不开花、不结实；导入这个基因，则可以正常地从营养生长阶段转入到生殖生长阶段。 RID1基因为禾本科植物中独有的一个成花调控基因，并调控了水稻中一条特异的开花路径。 

　据领导该项研究工作的生科院副教授吴昌银博士介绍，水稻等显花植物的生长周期，均要经历营养生长和生殖生长两个重要发育阶段。通俗来讲，水稻茎叶生长时属于营养生长期，而开花、结实，直至枯死时属于生殖生长期。水稻从营养生长期转换到生殖生长期的时间和机理，一直是一个热点研究问题。

　　2004年，课题组发现了促使水稻开花结果的基因：去掉这个基因，水稻便只长茎叶，不开花，不结实，可以在正常情况下一直进行营养生长；导入这个基因，水稻便可正常恢复生殖生长期。

　　2005年中旬，课题组成功将其分离克隆，并于2007年10月份完成相关研究工作。

　　这是该团队继今年相继分离克隆出Ghd7和S5基因之后，在水稻功能基因组研究领域取得的又一项重要突破。

　　张启发院士表示，RID1基因的分离，不仅具有重要理论意义，还可将该成果运用到水稻育种实践中。由于水稻开花的时间决定了品种的季节和地区适应性，是影响水稻生产的重要因素之一，改良水稻新品种的地区适应性，能提高我国稻米的生产能力。此外，该成果还有可能为其他植物的品种改良提供借鉴，如培育不开花的法国梧桐、延迟开花的牧草等。

原文检索：RID1, encoding a Cys2/His2-type zinc finger transcription factor, acts as a master switch from vegetative to floral development in rice

【Abstract】

Transition from the vegetative phase to reproductive phase is a crucial process in the life cycle of higher plants. Although the molecular mechanisms of flowering regulation have been extensively characterized in a number of plant species, little is known regarding how the transition process initiates. Here, we show that the Rice Indeterminate 1 (RID1) gene acts as the master switch for the transition from the vegetative to reproductive phase. RID1 encodes a Cys-2/His-2-type zinc finger transcription factor that does not have an ortholog in Arabidopsis spp. A RID1 knockout (rid1), mutated by T-DNA insertion, never headed after growing for >500 days under a range of growth conditions and is thus referred to as a never-flowering phenotype. This mutation-suppressed expression of the genes is known to be involved in flowering regulation, especially in the Ehd1/Hd3a pathway and a series of RFT homologs. RID1 seems to be independent of the circadian clock. A model was proposed to place RID1 in the molecular pathways of flowering regulation in rice, for which there are two indispensable elements. In the first, RID1 is controlling the phase transition and initiation of floral induction. In the other, the Hd3a/RFL1/FTL complex acts as the immediate inducer of flowering. Loss of function in either element would cause never-flowering. Once the phase transition is induced with the activation of RID1, flowering signal is transduced and regulated through the various pathways and eventually integrated with FT-like proteins to induce flowering.