Engineering OsBAK1 gene as a molecular tool to improve rice architecture for high yield |
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Authors: | Dan Li Lei Wang Min Wang Yun-Yuan Xu Wei Luo Ya-Ju Liu Zhi-Hong Xu Jia Li Kang Chong |
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Affiliation: | Research Center for Molecular &Developmental Biology, Key Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China; School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China |
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Abstract: | Generating a new variety of plant with erect-leaf is a critical strategy to improve rice grain yield, as plants with this trait can be dense-planted. The erect-leaf is a significant morphological trait partially regulated by Brassinosteroids (BRs) in rice plants. So far, only a few genes can be used for molecular breeding in rice. Here, we identified OsBAK1 as a potential gene to alter rice architecture. Based on rice genome sequences, four closely related homologs of Arabidopsis BAK1 ( AtBAK1 ) gene were amplified. Phylogenetic analysis and suppression of a weak Arabidopsis mutant bri1-5 indicated that OsBAK1 (Os08g0174700) is the closest relative of AtBAK1. Genetic, physiological, and biochemical analyses all suggest that the function of OsBAK1 is conserved with AtBAK1 . Overexpression of a truncated intracellular domain of OsBAK1 , but not the extracellular domain of OsBAK1 , resulted in a dwarfed phenotype, similar to the rice BR-insensitive mutant plants. The expression of OsBAK1 changed important agricultural traits of rice such as plant height, leaf erectness, grain morphologic features, and disease resistance responses. Our results suggested that a new rice variety with erect-leaf and normal reproduction can be generated simply by suppressing the expression level of OsBAK1 . Therefore, OsBAK1 is a potential molecular breeding tool for improving rice grain yield by modifying rice architecture. |
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Keywords: | OsBAK1 Brassinosteroid signalling erect-leaf architecture modification grain yield rice SERK family |
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