State Key Laboratory of Plant Cell and Chromosome Engineering, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Nat Genet. 2018 Oct;50(10):1435-1441. doi: 10.1038/s41588-018-0229-2. Epub 2018 Sep 24.
Domesticated species often exhibit convergent phenotypic evolution, termed the domestication syndrome, of which loss of seed dormancy is a component. To date, dormancy genes that contribute to parallel domestication across different families have not been reported. Here, we cloned the classical stay-green G gene from soybean and found that it controls seed dormancy and showed evidence of selection during soybean domestication. Moreover, orthologs in rice and tomato also showed evidence of selection during domestication. Analysis of transgenic plants confirmed that orthologs of G had conserved functions in controlling seed dormancy in soybean, rice, and Arabidopsis. Functional investigation demonstrated that G affected seed dormancy through interactions with NCED3 and PSY and in turn modulated abscisic acid synthesis. Therefore, we identified a gene responsible for seed dormancy that has been subject to parallel selection in multiple crop families. This may help facilitate the domestication of new crops.
驯化物种通常表现出趋同的表型进化，称为驯化综合征，其中种子休眠的丧失是一个组成部分。迄今为止，尚未报道有助于不同科属之间平行驯化的休眠基因。在这里，我们从大豆中克隆了经典的常绿 G 基因，并发现它控制种子休眠，并在大豆驯化过程中表现出选择的证据。此外，水稻和番茄中的同源物在驯化过程中也表现出选择的证据。转基因植物的分析证实，G 的同源物在控制大豆、水稻和拟南芥种子休眠方面具有保守功能。功能研究表明，G 通过与 NCED3 和 PSY 的相互作用影响种子休眠，并进而调节脱落酸的合成。因此，我们鉴定了一个负责种子休眠的基因，该基因在多个作物科属中受到平行选择。这可能有助于促进新作物的驯化。
