Work

Rice Flowering Locus T 1 plays an important role in heading date influencing yield traits in rice

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: Important role of flowering genes in enhancing grain productivity in rice has become well recognized for a number of key genes regulating the florigen production, but little has been known for the two florigen genes themselves. In this study, pleiotropism ofRice Flowering Locus T 1(RFT1), one of the two florigen genes in rice, was firstly evaluated using near isogenic lines (NILs) carryingRFT1alleles from theindicarice cultivars Zhenshan 97 (ZS97) and Milyang 46, respectively, and then determined by transformation of theRFT1ZS97allele into ajaponicarice variety, Zhonghua 11. TheRFT1ZS97allele was shown to delay heading and increase plant height, grain weight, grain number and grain yield, indicating thatRFT1plays an important role in the growth and development of rice. This study has also validated the potential of using a new type of genetic resource, sequential residual heterozygotes (SeqRHs), for QTL fine-mapping. A step-by-step approach was employed for SeqRHs identification, NIL development and QTL fine-mapping. The heterozygous segments and candidate QTL regions were gradually narrowed down. Eventually, the QTL region was delimited to a 1.7 kb region containing a single gene.

Source: Scientific Reports

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-05302-3