Rice florigens control a common set of genes at the shoot apical meristem including the F-BOX BROADER TILLER ANGLE 1 that regulates tiller angle and spikelet development.

Lorenzo Mineri, Martina Cerise, Francesca Giaume, Giulio Vicentini, Damiano Martignago, Matteo Chiara, Francesca Galbiati, Alberto Spada, David Horner, Fabio Fornara, Vittoria Brambilla

The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology 2023 Sep

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Rice flowering is triggered by transcriptional reprogramming at the shoot apical meristem (SAM) mediated by florigenic proteins produced in leaves in response to changes in photoperiod. Florigens are more rapidly expressed under short days (SDs) compared to long days (LDs) and include the HEADING DATE 3a (Hd3a) and RICE FLOWERING LOCUS T1 (RFT1) phosphatidylethanolamine binding proteins. Hd3a and RFT1 are largely redundant at converting the SAM into an inflorescence, but whether they activate the same target genes and convey all photoperiodic information that modifies gene expression at the SAM is currently unclear. We uncoupled the contribution of Hd3a and RFT1 to transcriptome reprogramming at the SAM by RNA sequencing of dexamethasone-inducible over-expressors of single florigens and wild-type plants exposed to photoperiodic induction. Fifteen highly differentially expressed genes common to Hd3a, RFT1, and SDs were retrieved, 10 of which still uncharacterized. Detailed functional studies on some candidates revealed a role for LOC_Os04g13150 in determining tiller angle and spikelet development and the gene was renamed BROADER TILLER ANGLE 1 (BRT1). We identified a core set of genes controlled by florigen-mediated photoperiodic induction and defined the function of a novel florigen target controlling tiller angle and spikelet development. © 2023 The Authors. The Plant Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Citation

Lorenzo Mineri, Martina Cerise, Francesca Giaume, Giulio Vicentini, Damiano Martignago, Matteo Chiara, Francesca Galbiati, Alberto Spada, David Horner, Fabio Fornara, Vittoria Brambilla. Rice florigens control a common set of genes at the shoot apical meristem including the F-BOX BROADER TILLER ANGLE 1 that regulates tiller angle and spikelet development. The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology. 2023 Sep;115(6):1647-1660