assembly of two chromosome-level rice genomes and bin-based QTL mapping reveal genetic diversity of grain weight trait in rice.

Following the "green revolution," and hybrid breeding has been recognized as a new breakthrough in further improving rice yields. However, heterosis-related grain weight QTLs and the basis of yield advantage among subspecies has not been well elucidated. We herein assembled the chromosome level genomes of an rice (Luohui 9) and a rice (RPY geng) and found that gene number differences and structural variations between these two genomes contribute to the differences in agronomic traits and also provide two different favorable allele pools to produce better derived recombinant inbred lines (RILs). In addition, we generated a high-generation (> F) population of 272 RILs from the cross between Luohui 9 and RPY geng and two testcross hybrid populations derived from the crosses of RILs and two cytoplasmic male sterile lines (YTA, and Z7A, ). Based on three derived populations, we totally identified eight 1,000-grain weight (KGW) QTLs and eight KGW heterosis loci. Of QTLs, and were accepted as novel KGW QTLs that have not been reported previously. Interestingly, allele genotyping results revealed that heading date related gene () in and , can affect grain weight in RILs and rice core accessions and may also play an important role in grain weight heterosis. Our results provided two high-quality genomes and novel gene editing targets for grain weight for future rice yield improvement project.