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Natural variation in Ghd7 is an important regulator of heading date and yield potential in rice
Chinese scientists find 'yield-improving rice gene'

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May 4, 2008

Source: Checkbiotech and Nature Genetics

Natural genetic variant regulates yield potential in rice

Researchers have identified a gene that has significant effects on yield potential in rice, as well as adaptability of rice to temperate climates. The study, published online this week in Nature Genetics, has implications for rice productivity.
The productivity of many crop plants, including rice, is determined by yield potential, plant height and flowering time. Previous studies have identified a region on chromosome 7 that affected all three traits, but the specific gene involved has not yet been pinpointed.

Qifa Zhang and colleagues found that rice plants that are shorter, have fewer grains per cluster of flowers, and flower earlier - all traits that reduce yield - have a complete deletion of the gene Ghd7. The restoration of Ghd7 expression in plants with the deletion had considerable effects on yield-related traits, including a doubling of the time to flowering and a 67% increase in height.

The authors also determined the status of Ghd7 in 19 rice varieties from rice growing in a wide geographic range in Asia. Five different versions of Ghd7 were found. The most highly active versions were present in warmer regions, allowing rice plants to fully exploit light and temperature by delaying flowering and increasing yield. Less active or inactive versions were found in cooler regions, enabling rice to be cultivated in areas where the growing season is shorter.
 

Source: Nature Genetics

Natural variation in Ghd7 is an important regulator of heading date and yield potential in rice
Weiya Xue1,2, Yongzhong Xing1,2, Xiaoyu Weng1, Yu Zhao1, Weijiang Tang1, Lei Wang1, Hongju Zhou1, Sibin Yu1, Caiguo Xu1, Xianghua Li1 & Qifa Zhang1
1. National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, National Centre of Plant Gene Research (Wuhan)
2. Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
These authors contributed equally to this work.

Published online: 4 May 2008 | doi:10.1038/ng.143

ABSTRACT

Yield potential, plant height and heading date are three classes of traits that determine the productivity of many crop plants. Here we show that the quantitative trait locus (QTL) Ghd7, isolated from an elite rice hybrid and encoding a CCT domain protein, has major effects on an array of traits in rice, including number of grains per panicle, plant height and heading date. Enhanced expression of Ghd7 under long-day conditions delays heading and increases plant height and panicle size. Natural mutants with reduced function enable rice to be cultivated in temperate and cooler regions. Thus, Ghd7 has played crucial roles for increasing productivity and adaptability of rice globally.

Access to full article for subscribers: http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/ng.143.html

 

Chinese scientists find 'yield-improving rice gene' - The newly discovered gene may help improve rice yields

Source: Jia Hepeng, Sci.DevNet
May 14, 2008

Chinese scientists have identified a rice gene that could simultaneously control the crop's yield, plant height, and number of days to flowering.

Publishing their study in Nature Genetics online this month (4 May), researchers from Wuhan-based Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU) say the gene could play a role in improving rice productivity.

The scientists found that in individual rice breeds, the three traits appear strong –– or weak –– simultaneously.

"This fact makes us infer that the three traits were controlled by a single gene," says Xing Yongzhong, one of the lead authors and a professor at HZAU.

Previous studies have found that a region on chromosome seven of rice can regulate all three traits but the specific gene involved had not been discovered.

The HZAU scientists mapped the relevant gene site on chromosome seven and located the specific gene named Ghd7. They discovered that shorter rice plants with fewer grains per cluster of flowers and earlier flowering do not have the gene Ghd7.

When they transferred Ghd7 into Ghd7-free varieties of rice, they found that time to flowering was increased by 105 per cent, they grew around 70 per cent taller, and the plants had more rice grains per cluster of flowers.

Numerous rice genes have been reported to control such traits alone, but Ghd7 is notable because of its large, multiple effects on an array of traits, write the authors.

Xing told SciDev.Net that the gene could be incorporated into varieties with traditional breeding. "Although we have used the genetically modified method in the study, we need not adopt this method in the practical seeding because the gene is identified from the rice itself."

The team of scientists also studied the status of Ghd7 in 19 rice varieties from rice growing in a wide geographic range in Asia and found five different versions of the gene.

"We are exploring the subtypes of Ghd7-containing rice that are most suitable to their growing regions, so as to cultivate the most appropriate high-output rice varieties," Xing adds.

Huang Dafang, former director of the Institute of Biotechnologies of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, welcomes the study as a major scientific breakthrough.

But he says that usually, multiple genes regulate the traits related to rice yields, and whether the Ghd7 could play its claimed role in promoting yields needs further research and seeding tests.

Link to full paper in Nature Genetics

 

 

 

 

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