A novel allele of Days to Heading 8 promotes heading, potentially widening indica rice adaptation in Japan.

ABSTRACT: Flowering time is a critical determinant of regional adaptability. High-yielding rice (Oryza sativa L.) varieties, such as IR64, exhibit an extended vegetative growth period. As a result, IR64 is poorly adapted to high-latitude regions, such as Hirosaki-Aomori in northern Japan where prolonged day lengths and chilling stress during later growth stages induce an excessively late heading. In this study, we sequenced the whole genome of AS996, an early-heading rice cultivar derived from IR64 harboring introgressions from the wild rice species Oryza rufipogon Griff. Genetic analyses revealed that the AS996 allele of Days to Heading 8 (DTH8) accelerates heading by 10-14 days in the IR64 genetic background. Sequence analysis identified a 1-bp deletion in DTH8 that causes a frameshift and a prema

SUBMITTER: Dinh LT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12550221 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature