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Manipulating the expression of a cell wall invertase gene increases grain yield in maize

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Abstract

Cell wall invertases play an important role in plant growth and development, especially in the grain filling of crop plants. However, their potential in high yield crop breeding has not been investigated. In this study, the main hybrid maize cultivar Zheng Dan 958 (ZD958) was used as a basic variety to assess whether ZmGIF1, a cell wall invertase from maize, can be used to breed new cultivars with higher grain yields. ZmGIF1 expression, cell wall invertase activity, and sugar content in different parental inbred cultivars were compared with those in Zheng 58 and Chang 7-2, the parental inbred cultivars of ZD958. Parental cultivars which showed higher ZmGIF1 expression and invertase activity were selected and intercrossed to improve the expression of ZmGIF1. Compared with the basic cultivar ZD958, higher ZmGIF1 expression and cell wall invertase activity were observed in most hybrid F1 lines, leading to increased grain yield in them. All these results suggest that the expression of ZmGIF1 can be manipulated using different parental cultivars to increase the grain yield of their hybrid F1 progenies.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been jointly supported by the following grants: The Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System Innovation Team of Shandong Province of China (SDAIT-02-05); the National Mega Project of GMO Crops of China (2014ZX0800942B, 2016ZX08004-002-006); the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA08030108); Comprehensive Surveys on Saline Lake Lithium and other New Energy Resources in the North Tibetan Plateau DD20160025; the National Key R & D Program of China (2016YFD0600106); the Agricultural Seed Project of Shandong Province of China (2016LZGC018); the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (ZR2015PC014, ZR2016CH19, ZR2016CB48, ZR2016CQ27); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371228, 31601816, 31601623, 31701866, 31700524).

Funding

This work has been jointly supported by the following grants: The Modern Agricultural Industry Technology System Innovation Team of Shandong Province of China (SDAIT-02-05); the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA08030108); the National Mega Project of GMO Crops of China (2014ZX0800942B, 2016ZX08004-002-006); Comprehensive Surveys on Saline Lake Lithium and other New Energy Resources in the North Tibetan Plateau DD20160025; the National Key R & D Program of China (2016YFD0600106); the Agricultural Seed Project of Shandong Province of China (2016LZGC018); the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province of China (ZR2015PC014, ZR2016CH19, ZR2016CB48, ZR2016CQ27); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371228, 31601816, 31601623, 31701866, 31700524).

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Author notes

  1. Yu-Jing Bi and Zhen-Cang Sun have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Agriculture, Ludong University, 186 Hongqizhong Road, Yantai, 264025, China

    Yu-Jing Bi, Zhen-Cang Sun, En-Qi Liu, Han-Mei Shen, Kun-Long Lai, Shuai Zhang, Xiao-Tong Guo, Yu-Ting Sheng, Chun-Yan Yu, Xu-Qiang Qiao, Bei Li & Hongxia Zhang

  2. Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L8, Canada

    Jessie Zhang

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  1. Yu-Jing Bi
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  2. Zhen-Cang Sun
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Correspondence to Bei Li or Hongxia Zhang.

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We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.

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Bi, YJ., Sun, ZC., Zhang, J. et al. Manipulating the expression of a cell wall invertase gene increases grain yield in maize. Plant Growth Regul 84, 37–43 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-017-0319-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-017-0319-7

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