Abstract: The primary aim of the present study was to investigate the overexpression of the rice (Oryza sativa L. subsp. japonica var. Zhonghua 11) flowering control gene (rFCA-RRM2) in monocotyledonous model rice. Constitutive expression of rFCA-RRM2 from the Act1-5 rice promoter caused late flowering in transgenic rice and increased grain weight that was more than 50% higher than that of control plants, which is the first demonstration of rFCA-RRM2 being able to increase rice production. Late flowering was accompanied by strong phenotype and some morphological modifications. These observations suggest that rFCA-RRM2 is a useful tool for phenotype improvement and yield enhancement in cereal crops.

Key words: FCA gene, gene transformation, heading date, rice.