Yang Yuming, Wang Ruiyang, Wang Li, Cui Ruifan, Zhang Hengyou, Che Zhijun, Hu Dandan, Chu Shanshan, Jiao Yongqing, Yu Deyue, Zhang Dan
Department of Agriculture, Collaborative Innovation Center of Henan Grain Crops, College of Agronomy, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou, China.
National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, National Center for Soybean Improvement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China.
Plant Cell Environ. 2023 Feb;46(2):592-606. doi: 10.1111/pce.14497. Epub 2022 Dec 2.
Phosphorus (P) deficiency seriously affects plant growth and development and ultimately limits the quality and yield of crops. Here, a new P efficiency-related major quantitative trait locus gene, GmEIL4 (encoding an ethylene-insensitive 3-like 1 protein), was cloned at qP2, which was identified by linkage analysis and genome-wide association study across four environments. Overexpressing GmEIL4 significantly improved the P uptake efficiency by increasing the number, length and surface area of lateral roots of hairy roots in transgenic soybeans, while interfering with GmEIL4 resulted in poor root phenotypic characteristics compared with the control plants under low P conditions. Interestingly, we found that GmEIL4 interacted with EIN3-binding F box protein 1 (GmEBF1), which may regulate the root response to low P stress. We conclude that the expression of GmEIL4 was induced by low-P stress and that overexpressing GmEIL4 improved P accumulation by regulating root elongation and architecture. Analysis of allele variation of GmEIL4 in 894 soybean accessions suggested that GmEIL4 is undergoing artificial selection during soybean evolution, which will benefit soybean production. Together, this study further elucidates how plants respond to low P stress by modifying root structure and provides insight into the great potential of GmEIL4 in crop P-efficient breeding.
磷（P）缺乏严重影响植物生长发育，最终限制作物的品质和产量。在此，在qP2位点克隆了一个与磷效率相关的新的主要数量性状基因座基因GmEIL4（编码一种乙烯不敏感3样1蛋白），该基因座通过在四个环境中的连锁分析和全基因组关联研究确定。过表达GmEIL4通过增加转基因大豆毛状根侧根的数量、长度和表面积，显著提高了磷吸收效率，而在低磷条件下，与对照植株相比，干扰GmEIL4导致根系表型特征较差。有趣的是，我们发现GmEIL4与EIN3结合F盒蛋白1（GmEBF1）相互作用，这可能调节根系对低磷胁迫的响应。我们得出结论，GmEIL4的表达受低磷胁迫诱导，过表达GmEIL4通过调节根伸长和根系结构改善了磷积累。对894份大豆种质中GmEIL4等位变异的分析表明，GmEIL4在大豆进化过程中正在经历人工选择，这将有利于大豆生产。总之，本研究进一步阐明了植物如何通过改变根系结构对低磷胁迫作出反应，并为GmEIL4在作物磷高效育种中的巨大潜力提供了见解。
