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Gu H, Zhang K, Chen J, Gull S, Chen C, Hou Y, Li X, Miao J, Zhou Y, Liang G. OsFTL4, an FT-like Gene, Regulates Flowering Time and Drought Tolerance in Rice (Oryza sativa L.). Rice (N Y) 2022; 15:47. [PMID: 36068333 PMCID: PMC9448835 DOI: 10.1186/s12284-022-00593-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/01/2022] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
The initiation of flowering in cereals is a critical process influenced by environmental and endogenous signals. Flowering Locus T-like (FT-like) genes encode the main signals for flowering. Of the 13 FT-like genes in the rice genome, Hd3a/OsFTL2 and RFT1/OsFTL3 have been extensively studied and revealed to be critical for flowering. In this study, a rice FT-like gene, OsFTL4, was functionally characterized. Specifically, osftl4 mutants were generated using a CRISPR/Cas9 system. Compared with the wild-type control (Guangluai 4), the osftl4-1 and osftl4-2 mutants flowered 9.6 and 5.8 days earlier under natural long-day and short-day conditions, respectively. Additionally, OsFTL4 was mainly expressed in the vascular tissue, with the resulting OsFTL4 protein localized in both the nucleus and cytoplasm. Furthermore, OsFTL4 was observed to compete with Hd3a for the interaction with multiple 14-3-3 proteins. An analysis of the effects of simulated drought stress suggested that silencing OsFTL4 enhances drought tolerance by decreasing stomatal conductance and water loss. These results indicate that OsFTL4 helps integrate the flowering process and the drought response in rice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Houwen Gu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Kunming Zhang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Jie Chen
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Sadia Gull
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Chuyan Chen
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Yafei Hou
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Xiangbo Li
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Jun Miao
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
- Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yong Zhou
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China.
- Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.
| | - Guohua Liang
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Molecular Breeding/Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology/Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics of the Ministry of Education, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China.
- Jiangsu Co-Innovation Center for Modern Production Technology of Grain Crops, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, Jiangsu, China.
- Joint International Research Laboratory of Agriculture and Agri-Product Safety, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China.
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