Overexpression of zmm28 increases maize grain yield in the field

作者：Jingrui Wu, Shai J. Lawit, Ben Weers, Jindong Sun, Nick Mongar, John Van Hemert, Rosana Melo, Xin Meng, Mary A. Rupe, Joshua Clapp, Kristin Haug Collet, Libby Trecker, Keith R. Roesler, Layton Peddicord, Jill F. Thomas, Joanne Clare Hunt, Wengang Zhou, Zhenglin Hou, Matthew Wimmer, Justin Jantes, Hua Mo, Lu Liu, Yiwei Wang, Carl Walker, Olga N. Danilevskaya, R. Lafitte, Jeffrey R. Schussler, Bo Shen, Jeffrey E. Habben · 发表于：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 年份：2019 · DOI：10.1073/pnas.1902593116 · 被引用次数：149 · 研究领域：Plant nutrient uptake and metabolism、Plant Molecular Biology Research、Genetic Mapping and Diversity in Plants and Animals

Increasing maize grain yield has been a major focus of both plant breeding and genetic engineering to meet the global demand for food, feed, and industrial uses. We report that increasing and extending expression of a maize MADS-box transcription factor gene, zmm28 , under the control of a moderate-constitutive maize promoter, results in maize plants with increased plant growth, photosynthesis capacity, and nitrogen utilization. Molecular and biochemical characterization of zmm28 transgenic plants demonstrated that their enhanced agronomic traits are associated with elevated plant carbon assimilation, nitrogen utilization, and plant growth. Overall, these positive attributes are associated with a significant increase in grain yield relative to wild-type controls that is consistent across years, environments, and elite germplasm backgrounds.