Yield gene cloning in wheat

Thu, Nov 17, 2022 5:00 PM - 6:00 PM CET

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/3145969272935101456

Presenter: Liuling Yan, Oklahoma State University, USA Outline: The spike architecture is one of the most important agronomic traits that influence grain yield in wheat (Triticum aestivum). In our recent study, we initially cloned a dominant allele TaCol-B5 on chromosome arm 7BL that increases the number of spikelets per spike in common wheat. The gene was named TaCol-B5 to be more consistent with its orthologue (CONSTANS-like 5) in other plant species. After cloned, TaCol-B5 showed association with increases in the length of the spike, the number of grains per spike, and the number of spikes per plant. When constitutively overexpressed, TaCol-B5 was found to enhance field-based grain yield by 11.9%. The natural variation between the two alleles relied on a single-nucleotide polymorphism that resulted in a critical amino acid substitution, so that TaCol-B5 protein but not Tacol-B5 protein was phosphorylated by the serine/threonine protein kinase TaK4. The edited Tacol-B5 gene, through CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology, altered heading date and plant height. Another critical finding in this study is that the TaCol-B5 allele for higher grain yield was cloned from CItr17600, which is an accession from CIMMYT, but this allele was found in ancestral emmer wheat but only 2% of an international modern wheat variety panel (more than 1,600 accessions). The story on TaCol-B5 is not over yet but just a starting point in a roadmap for molecular improvement of grain yield. We will discuss about perspectives of TaCol-B5 in establishing ideal plant and spike architectures to increase grain yield in wheat. Reference: - Zhang X, Jia H, Li T, Wu J, Nagarajan R, Lei L, Powers C, Kan CC, Hua W, Liu Z, Chen C, Carver BF, Yan L. (2022) TaCol-B5 modifies spike architecture and enhances grain yield in wheat. Science. 376:180-183. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abm0717