Abstract:Lightharvesting like protein 3 (LIL3) is a member of the lightharvesting complex family (LHC), which is characterized by a conserved LHC motif sequence. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) LIL3 participates in the side chain biosynthesis of chlorophyll and tocopherol. Vitamin E, including tocopherols and tocotrienols, is an important fatsoluble compound with antioxidant activity. In order to explore the effects of LIL3 on vitamin E contents in rice grains, LIL3 was overexpressed in Nipponbare (Oryza Sativa spp. Japonica.), and a stable transgenic line was obtained. The panicle length, number of grains per panicle, grain length, grain width and the content of vitamin E in grains were analyzed, respectively, in wildtype and overexpressing plants. The results showed that the panicle length, grain length and width of LIL3 overexpression plants did not change significantly, compared with those of the wild type. However, number of grains per panicle decreased slightly. In addition, the total contents of tocotrienols obviously decreased in the LIL3 overexpressing plants.