Maize GOLDEN2-LIKE genes enhance biomass and grain yields in rice by improving photosynthesis and reducing photoinhibition.

ABSTRACT: Photosynthetic efficiency is a major target for improvement of crop yield potential under agricultural field conditions. Inefficiencies can occur in many steps of the photosynthetic process, from chloroplast biogenesis to functioning of the light harvesting and carbon fixation reactions. Nuclear-encoded GOLDEN2-LIKE (GLK) transcription factors regulate some of the earliest steps by activating target genes encoding chloroplast-localized and photosynthesis-related proteins. Here we show that constitutive expression of maize GLK genes in rice leads to enhanced levels of chlorophylls and pigment-protein antenna complexes, and that these increases lead to improved light harvesting efficiency via photosystem II in field-grown plants. Increased levels of xanthophylls further buffer the negative e

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7113295 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature