A New RING Finger Protein, <i>PLANT ARCHITECTURE</i> and <i>GRAIN NUMBER</i> 1, Affects Plant Architecture and Grain Yield in Rice

oleh: Peiwen Yan, Yu Zhu, Ying Wang, Fuying Ma, Dengyong Lan, Fuan Niu, Shiqing Dong, Xinwei Zhang, Jian Hu, Siwen Liu, Tao Guo, Xiaoyun Xin, Shiyong Zhang, Jinshui Yang, Liming Cao, Xiaojin Luo

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-01-01

Deskripsi

Developing methods for increasing the biomass and improving the plant architecture is important for crop improvement. We herein describe a gene belonging to the RING_Ubox (RING (Really Interesting New Gene) finger domain and U-box domain) superfamily, <i>PLANT ARCHITECTURE and</i> <i>GRAIN NUMBER 1</i> (<i>PAGN1</i>), which regulates the number of grains per panicle, the plant height, and the number of tillers. We used the CRISPR/Cas9 system to introduce loss-of-function mutations to <i>OsPAGN1</i>. Compared with the control plants, the resulting <i>pagn1</i> mutant plants had a higher grain yield because of increases in the plant height and in the number of tillers and grains per panicle. Thus, <i>OsPAGN1</i> may be useful for the genetic improvement of plant architecture and yield. An examination of evolutionary relationships revealed that <i>OsPAGN1</i> is highly conserved in rice. We demonstrated that OsPAGN1 can interact directly with OsCNR10 (CELL NUMBER REGULATOR10), which negatively regulates the number of rice grains per panicle. A transcriptome analysis indicated that silencing <i>OsPAGN1</i> affects the levels of active cytokinins in rice. Therefore, our findings have clarified the <i>OsPAGN1</i> functions related to rice growth and grain development.