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Elucidation of the relationship between yield and heading date using CRISPR/Cas9 system-induced mutation in the flowering pathway across a large latitudinal gradient

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Abstract

The naturally occurring genetic variation in the universal flowering (or heading date in crops) pathway has produced major advancements in crop domestication and expansion, and the various combinations of heading date genes have facilitated the plants to heading at suitable times in different ecological zones. However, gene combinations that can maximize crop yields may not exist in natural populations. Here, we planted a series of heading date mutants that harbored different heading mutant gene combinations generated by CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, along with a collection of commercial varieties, across a large latitude gradient to evaluate the major effects of heading date genes and preferable gene combinations for each area. The relationship between yield and heading date was investigated. According to the pattern obtained from gene editing mutants, we concluded that the growth period of commercial varieties could be adjusted to achieve maximum yield performance in some areas. By combining the long vegetative growth allele and weak photoperiod sensitivity allele, we pinpointed an optimal balance between growth period and yield production, resulting in new partially determinate heading date to maximum yields and improved adaptability. We propose that harnessing mutations in the florigen pathway to customize the balance between vegetative and reproductive growth offers a broad toolkit for boosting crop productivity.

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Data availability

The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article and its additional files. The seeds of mutants and varieties are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the Excellent Youth Science Foundation of Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (2019-YQ-06), Innovative talents support program of Liaoning province (LCR2018026), and Shenyang youth science and technology project (RC200452) for supporting this study.

Funding

The Excellent Youth Science Foundation of Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province (2019-YQ-06), Innovative talents support program of Liaoning province (LCR2018026), and Shenyang youth science and technology project (RC200452) supported this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rice Research Institute, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, China

    Yue Cui, Zhengjin Xu & Quan Xu

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  1. Yue Cui
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  2. Zhengjin Xu
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  3. Quan Xu
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QX and ZX conceived and designed the research. YC organized and performed most of the experiments. QX analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Quan Xu.

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Cui, Y., Xu, Z. & Xu, Q. Elucidation of the relationship between yield and heading date using CRISPR/Cas9 system-induced mutation in the flowering pathway across a large latitudinal gradient. Mol Breeding 41, 23 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-021-01213-4

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