Genome-edited 3a knockout enhances leaf production in .

Environmental cues regulate the transition of many plants from vegetative to flowering development. Day length, or photoperiod, is one cue that synchronizes flowering by changing seasons. Consequently, the molecular mechanism of flowering control is prominent in Arabidopsis and rice, where essential genes like T () homolog, 3a (), have been connected to flowering regulation. Perilla is a nutrient-rich leaf vegetable, and the flowering mechanism remains largely elusive. We identified flowering-related genes under short-day conditions using RNA sequencing to develop an enhanced leaf production trait using the flowering mechanism in the perilla. Initially, an -like gene was cloned from the perilla and defined as . Furthermore, is highly rhythmically expressed in mature leaves under short-day and long-day conditions. Ectopic expression of in mutant plants has been shown to complement Arabidopsis function, resulting in early flowering. In addition, our genetic approaches revealed that overexpression of in perilla caused early flowering. In contrast, the CRISPR/Cas9 generated -mutant perilla showed significantly late flowering, resulting in approximately 50% leaf production enhancement compared to the control. Our results suggest that plays a vital role in regulating flowering in the perilla and is a potential target for molecular breeding in the perilla.