Fig. 1

The contents of free aspartate and asparagine in spikelets and flag leaves in rice. The apical spikelets (a) on the primary branches at the positions from the first (top) to the fifth, and flag leaves (b) were harvested during the ripening period from 7 to 35 and 14 to 35 days after flowering, respectively. Means of three to four independent samples and standard error values (n = 3 to 4) are indicated. Significant differences between aspartate and asparagine identified by Student’s t-test are marked with asterisks: *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01