State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Innovative Academy of Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, P. R. China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, P. R. China.
Nat Commun. 2022 Feb 25;13(1):1068. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28680-3.
One of the most critical steps in cereal threshing is the ease with which seeds are detached from sticky glumes. Naked grains with low glume coverage have dramatically increased threshing efficiency and seed quality. Here, we demonstrate that GC1 (Glume Coverage 1), encoding an atypical G protein γ subunit, negatively regulates sorghum glume coverage. Naturally truncated variations of GC1 C-terminus accumulate at higher protein levels and affect the stability of a patatin-related phospholipase SbpPLAII-1. A strong positive selection signature around the GC1 genic region is found in the naked sorghum cultivars. Our findings reveal a crucial event during sorghum domestication through a subtle regulation of glume development by GC1 C-terminus variation, and establish a strategy for future breeding of naked grains.
在谷物脱粒过程中，最重要的步骤之一是种子从粘性颖壳上脱落的难易程度。颖壳覆盖率低的裸粒极大地提高了脱粒效率和种子质量。在这里，我们证明编码非典型 G 蛋白γ亚基的 GC1 负调控高粱颖壳覆盖率。GC1 C 端的天然截短变异体积累更高水平的蛋白质，并影响与 patatin 相关的磷脂酶 SbpPLAII-1 的稳定性。在裸高粱品种中，GC1 基因区域周围发现了一个强烈的正选择信号。我们的研究结果揭示了通过 GC1 C 端变异对颖壳发育的微妙调控，在高粱驯化过程中的一个关键事件，并为未来的裸粒培育建立了一个策略。
