Natural variation in TaERF-A1 confers semi-dwarf and lodging-resistant plant architecture in wheat

作者：Renhan Li, Jie Liu, Lingling Chai, Dejie Du, Wen Yang, Jun Zhu, Yaotian Gao, Yunjie Liu, Ling-Feng Miao, Long Song, Xiaoming Xie, Yongming Chen, Zhaoheng Zhang, Pei Ni, Yidi Zhao, Zhaoju Li, Lahu Lu, Weilong Guo, Huiru Peng, Qixin Sun, Zhongfu Ni · 发表于：Plant Communications · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1016/j.xplc.2024.101194 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Crop Yield and Soil Fertility、Wheat and Barley Genetics and Pathology

The introduction of Reduced height ( Rht ) genes into wheat varieties has been pivotal in developing semi-dwarf plant architectures, significantly improving lodging resistance and harvest indices. Therefore, identifying new Rht gene resources for breeding semi-dwarf wheat cultivars has been a key strategy for ensuring high and stable grain yields since the 1960s. In this study, we report the map-based cloning of TaERF-A1 , which encodes an AP2/ERF (APETALA2/ethylene responsive factor) transcription factor that acts as a positive regulator of wheat stem elongation, as a novel gene that regulates plant height and spike length. The natural variant, TaERF-A1 JD6 , features a Phe (derived from 'Nongda3338') to Ser (derived from 'Jingdong6') substitution at position 178, which significantly reduces the stability of the TaERF-A1 protein. This substitution leads to partially attenuated transcriptional activation of downstream target genes, including TaPIF4 ( Triticum aestivum Phytochrome Interacting Factor 4 ), thereby restricting stem and spike elongation. Importantly, the introgression of the semi-dwarfing allele TaERF-A1 JD6 into wheat can significantly enhance lodging resistance, particularly in dense cropping systems. Therefore, our study identifies TaERF-A1 JD6 as a new Rht gene resource for breeding semi-dwarf wheat varieties with increased yield stability.