Abstract：In the present study, we investigated the effects of exogenous pea ferritin gene (Pea-Fer) on the important biological properties of transgenic rice. Fer34-XS11 was obtained from a near isogenic line (NIL BC6F3) of donor parent (exogenous ferritin transgenic pure lines Fer34) and recurrent parent (Oryza sativa ssp.japanica) (Xiushui 11) by successive backcrossing and GUS analysis. Several important biological properties were investigated completely using Fer34-XS11 and Xiushui 11. The major results are as follows, (1)The iron content of Fer34-XS11 was increased significantly, but no obvious difference was observed in the other mineral elements, such as Mg, Ca, Mn and Zn; (2)The introduction of exogenous gene (Pea-Fer) had no significant effect on germination rate and seedling leafing rate; (3)No significant changes were found in the contents and composition of chlorophyll in leaves, but the net photosynthetic rate was dramatically enhanced in the transgenic rice; (4) no harmful effect were found on major agronomic traits as well as economic traits. All the results showed that the exogenous gene (Pea-Fer) was highly expressed in transgenic rice with increasing the iron content of rice grains. And transferring the exogenous gene(Pea-Fer) did not result in significant harmful effect on the important biological properties. The results provide some theory basis for breeding novel high-iron rice varieties by utilizing this foreign gene.
