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Chen S, Fan X, Song M, Yao S, Liu T, Ding W, Liu L, Zhang M, Zhan W, Yan L, Sun G, Li H, Wang L, Zhang K, Jia X, Yang Q, Yang J. Cryptochrome 1b represses gibberellin signaling to enhance lodging resistance in maize. Plant Physiol 2024; 194:902-917. [PMID: 37934825 DOI: 10.1093/plphys/kiad546] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
Maize (Zea mays L.) is one of the most important crops worldwide. Photoperiod, light quality, and light intensity in the environment can affect the growth, development, yield, and quality of maize. In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), cryptochromes are blue-light receptors that mediate the photocontrol of stem elongation, leaf expansion, shade tolerance, and photoperiodic flowering. However, the function of maize cryptochrome ZmCRY in maize architecture and photomorphogenic development remains largely elusive. The ZmCRY1b transgene product can activate the light signaling pathway in Arabidopsis and complement the etiolation phenotype of the cry1-304 mutant. Our findings show that the loss-of-function mutant of ZmCRY1b in maize exhibits more etiolation phenotypes under low blue light and appears slender in the field compared with wild-type plants. Under blue and white light, overexpression of ZmCRY1b in maize substantially inhibits seedling etiolation and shade response by enhancing protein accumulation of the bZIP transcription factors ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (ZmHY5) and ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5-LIKE (ZmHY5L), which directly upregulate the expression of genes encoding gibberellin (GA) 2-oxidase to deactivate GA and repress plant height. More interestingly, ZmCRY1b enhances lodging resistance by reducing plant and ear heights and promoting root growth in both inbred lines and hybrids. In conclusion, ZmCRY1b contributes blue-light signaling upon seedling de-etiolation and integrates light signals with the GA metabolic pathway in maize, resulting in lodging resistance and providing information for improving maize varieties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shizhan Chen
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Xiaocong Fan
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Meifang Song
- Institute of Radiation Technology, Beijing Academy of Science and Technology, Beijing 100875, China
- Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Shuaitao Yao
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Tong Liu
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Wusi Ding
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Lei Liu
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Menglan Zhang
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Weimin Zhan
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Lei Yan
- Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Guanghua Sun
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Hongdan Li
- Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Lijian Wang
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Kang Zhang
- Department of Precision Plant Gene Delivery, Genovo Biotechnology Co. Ltd, Tianjin 301700, China
| | - Xiaolin Jia
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Qinghua Yang
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
| | - Jianping Yang
- College of Agronomy, State Key Laboratory of Wheat and Maize Crop Science, and Center for Crop Genome Engineering, Longzi Lake Campus, Henan Agricultural University, Zhengzhou 450046, China
- Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
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