Guangdong Key Laboratory of Plant Adaptation and Molecular Design, Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Editing, Innovative Center of Molecular Genetics and Evolution, School of Life Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Vegetables Research Institute, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangdong Key Laboratory for New Technology Research of Vegetables, Guangzhou, China.
Plant Biotechnol J. 2024 Oct;22(10):2859-2872. doi: 10.1111/pbi.14409. Epub 2024 Jun 11.
The length of hypocotyl affects the height of soybean and lodging resistance, thus determining the final grain yield. However, research on soybean hypocotyl length is scarce, and the regulatory mechanisms are not fully understood. Here, we identified a module controlling the transport of sucrose, where sucrose acts as a messenger moved from cotyledon to hypocotyl, regulating hypocotyl elongation. This module comprises four key genes, namely MYB33, SWEET11, SWEET21 and GA2ox8c in soybean. In cotyledon, MYB33 is responsive to sucrose and promotes the expression of SWEET11 and SWEET21, thereby facilitating sucrose transport from the cotyledon to the hypocotyl. Subsequently, sucrose transported from the cotyledon up-regulates the expression of GA2ox8c in the hypocotyl, which ultimately affects the length of the hypocotyl. During the domestication and improvement of soybean, an allele of MYB33 with enhanced abilities to promote SWEET11 and SWEET21 has gradually become enriched in landraces and cultivated varieties, SWEET11 and SWEET21 exhibit high conservation and have undergone a strong purified selection and GA2ox8c is under a strong artificial selection. Our findings identify a new molecular pathway in controlling soybean hypocotyl elongation and provide new insights into the molecular mechanism of sugar transport in soybean.
下胚轴的长度会影响大豆的高度和抗倒伏能力,从而决定最终的籽粒产量。然而,目前关于大豆下胚轴长度的研究较少,其调控机制也不完全清楚。在这里,我们鉴定了一个控制蔗糖运输的模块,其中蔗糖作为一种从子叶移动到下胚轴的信使,调节下胚轴的伸长。该模块包含大豆中的四个关键基因,即 MYB33、SWEET11、SWEET21 和 GA2ox8c。在子叶中,MYB33 对蔗糖做出响应,并促进 SWEET11 和 SWEET21 的表达,从而促进蔗糖从子叶向 下胚轴的运输。随后,从子叶运输而来的蔗糖在下胚轴中上调 GA2ox8c 的表达,最终影响下胚轴的长度。在大豆的驯化和改良过程中,具有增强促进 SWEET11 和 SWEET21 能力的 MYB33 等位基因在地方品种和栽培品种中逐渐富集,SWEET11 和 SWEET21 表现出高度的保守性,并经历了强烈的纯化选择,而 GA2ox8c 则受到强烈的人工选择。我们的研究结果确定了控制大豆下胚轴伸长的新分子途径,并为大豆中糖运输的分子机制提供了新的见解。