Decoupling the pleiotropic effects of VRT-A2 during reproductive development enhances wheat grain length and weight.

ABSTRACT: VEGETATIVE TO REPRODUCTIVE TRANSITION 2 (VRT-A2) is a subspecies-forming gene that confers the long-glume and large-grain traits of tetraploid Polish wheat (Triticum polonicum; AABB) and hexaploid Xinjiang rice wheat (T. petropavlovskyi; AABBDD). Transcriptional activation of VRT-A2 due to a natural sequence variation in its Intron-1 region significantly enhances grain weight but also causes some basal spikelets to fail to completely develop, thus decreasing grain number per spike and yield. This yield penalty has presented a challenge for the use of VRT-A2 in breeding high-yield wheat. Here, we report the characterization of 2 regulatory modules that fine-tune VRT-A2 expression in bread wheat (T. aestivum): (i) the APETALA2/Ethylene Responsive Factor (AP2/ERF)-type transcription factor MU

SUBMITTER: Liu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11827615 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature