硅是地壳和土壤中第二种最丰富的元素，对植物生长是有益的，可帮助它们克服不同形式的压力。它对水稻的高产稳产尤其重要。现在，研究人员发现了一种控制硅积累的水稻基因，即Lsi1。该基因永久性地表达在根部，对其活性的抑制可减少硅的吸收。这是首次关于高等植物中一种硅运输基因的报告，因为有些植物不能积累足够数量的硅，所以该发现有可能为培育抗压力作物提供策略。

相关论文：
　　题目：A silicon transporter in rice
　　第一作者：Jian Feng Ma
　　第一作者单位：Research Institute for Bioresources, Okayama University, Chuo 2-20-1, Kurashiki 710-0046, Japan
　　出处：Nature, vol.440, No.7084, 688-691, 30 March 2006.
　　摘要：Top of pageSilicon is beneficial to plant growth and helps plants to overcome abiotic and biotic stresses by preventing lodging (falling over) and increasing resistance to pests and diseases, as well as other stresses. Silicon is essential for high and sustainable production of rice, but the molecular mechanism responsible for the uptake of silicon is unknown. Here we describe the Low silicon rice 1 (Lsi1) gene, which controls silicon accumulation in rice, a typical silicon-accumulating plant. This gene belongs to the aquaporin family and is constitutively expressed in the roots. Lsi1 is localized on the plasma membrane of the distal side of both exodermis and endodermis cells, where casparian strips are located. Suppression of Lsi1 expression resulted in reduced silicon uptake. Furthermore, expression of Lsi1 in Xenopus oocytes showed transport activity for silicon only. The identification of a silicon transporter provides both an insight into the silicon uptake system in plants, and a new strategy for producing crops with high resistance to multiple stresses by genetic modification of the root"s silicon uptake capacity.