Relationship between regulation of starch metabolism in leaf sheaths at the post-heading stage and grain filling in rice

水稻叶鞘瞬间积累淀粉，抽穗后降解，用于籽粒灌浆。因此，阐明抽穗后叶鞘中淀粉的再动员机制对提高水稻产量具有重要意义。在这项研究中，我们鉴定了两种β-淀粉酶，OsBAM2和OsBAM3，它们是以叶绿体为靶标的淀粉代谢酶。此外，我们的结果提出了OsBAM2和OsBAM3基因可能在抽穗后叶鞘淀粉再动员中起重要作用的可能性。

Rice leaf sheaths accumulate transiently starch, which is degraded after the heading and utilized for the grain filling. Therefore, elucidation of the mechanism of starch remobilization at the post-heading stage in leaf sheaths is important for improving the rice grain yield. In this study, we identified two beta-amylases, OsBAM2 and OsBAM3, as plastid-targeted starch-metabolizing enzymes. In addition, our results raise the possibility that OsBAM2 and OsBAM3 genes may have an important role in the starch remobilization in leaf sheaths at the post-heading stage.