Characterization of Indica-Type Giant Embryo Mutant Rice Enriched with Nutritional Components

Five giant embryo mutants, described as MH-gel, MH-ge2, MH-ge3, MH-ge4 and MH-ge5, which were derived from the same indica rice cv. ‘Minghui 86’ and characterized by 2.0, 1.88, 2.08, 1.93 and 1.88 times enlarged embryo than that of wild type, were selected for the current study. The mutated giant embryos were controlled by a single recessive gene, and except mutated locus with MH-ge1 other four loci were allelic to each other and the previous reported locus ge in japonica rice cv. ‘Kinmaze’. No obvious differences in physicochemical properties such as apparent amylose content (AAC), alkali spreading value (ASV), gel consistency (GC), and starch paste viscosity were observed between giant embryo mutants and wild type. Significant increases in the contents of crude lipid (LC), crude protein (PC), Vitamin B1 (VB1), Vitamin B2 (VB2), Vitamin E (VE), essential amino acids such as Arginine (Arg), Aspartic acid (Asp), Glutamic acid (Glu), Lysine (Lys), Methionine (Met), and mineral elements such as calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), potassium (K), phosphorus (P) and zinc (Zn) were detected in brown rice (BR) of giant embryo mutants. The amounts of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter, were similar in the BR of giant embryo mutants and wild type, and more GABA content was observed in germinated brown rice (GBR) than BR. Significant enrichments were detected in the GBR of giant embryo mutants, basically corresponding to the enlarged embryo.