Independent Junior Research Group Abiotic Stress Genomics, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK Gatersleben), Corrensstr. 3 06466 Stadt Seeland, OT Gatersleben, Germany.
HEISENBERG-Research Group Plant Architecture, Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK Gatersleben), Corrensstr. 3 06466 Stadt Seeland, OT Gatersleben, Germany.
Plant J. 2017 Aug;91(4):601-612. doi: 10.1111/tpj.13590. Epub 2017 Jun 19.
Exploring genes with impact on yield-related phenotypes is the preceding step to accomplishing crop improvements while facing a growing world population. A genome-wide association scan on leaf blade area (LA) in a worldwide spring barley collection (Hordeum vulgare L.), including 125 two- and 93 six-rowed accessions, identified a gene encoding the homeobox transcription factor, Six-rowed spike 1 (VRS1). VRS1 was previously described as a key domestication gene affecting spike development. Its mutation converts two-rowed (wild-type VRS1, only central fertile spikelets) into six-rowed spikes (mutant vrs1, fully developed fertile central and lateral spikelets). Phenotypic analyses of mutant and wild-type leaves revealed that mutants had an increased leaf width with more longitudinal veins. The observed significant increase of LA and leaf nitrogen (%) during pre-anthesis development in vrs1 mutants also implies a link between wider leaf and grain number, which was validated from the association of vrs1 locus with wider leaf and grain number. Histological and gene expression analyses indicated that VRS1 might influence the size of leaf primordia by affecting cell proliferation of leaf primordial cells. This finding was supported by the transcriptome analysis of mutant and wild-type leaf primordia where in the mutant transcriptional activation of genes related to cell proliferation was detectable. Here we show that VRS1 has an independent role on barley leaf development which might influence the grain number.
探索对产量相关表型有影响的基因是在面对不断增长的世界人口时实现作物改良的前提。对包括 125 个二棱和 93 个六棱品种在内的全球春大麦群体的叶片面积（LA）进行全基因组关联扫描，鉴定出一个编码同源盒转录因子的基因，六棱穗 1（VRS1）。VRS1 先前被描述为影响穗发育的关键驯化基因。它的突变将二棱（野生型 VRS1，仅中央可育小穗）转化为六棱穗（突变型 vrs1，完全发育的中央和侧小穗）。突变体和野生型叶片的表型分析表明，突变体叶片宽度增加，纵向叶脉增多。在 vrs1 突变体中，开花前发育过程中观察到的 LA 和叶片氮（%）显著增加，这意味着更宽的叶片和更多的粒数之间存在联系，这从 vrs1 基因座与更宽的叶片和更多的粒数的关联得到了验证。组织学和基因表达分析表明，VRS1 可能通过影响叶片原基细胞的增殖来影响叶片原基的大小。这一发现得到了突变体和野生型叶片原基转录组分析的支持，在突变体中，与细胞增殖相关的基因的转录激活是可检测的。在这里，我们表明 VRS1 在大麦叶片发育中有独立的作用，这可能影响粒数。
