PLoS Genetics:农科院生物所林浩研究组发现调控植物叶型发育分子

摘要 : 2017年3月6日，国际知名学术期刊《PLOS Genetics》在线发表了中国农业科学院生物技术研究所作物高光效功能基因组创新团队林浩研究组和和美国俄克拉荷马州立大学米利翁•塔德格(Million Tadege)教授研究组的一篇研究论文，论文发现影响植物叶型发育的分子调控机制

2017年3月6日，国际知名学术期刊《PLOS GENEtics》在线发表了中国农业科学院生物技术研究所作物高光效功能基因组创新团队林浩研究组和和美国俄克拉荷马州立大学米利翁•塔德格(Million Tadege)教授研究组的一篇研究论文，论文发现影响植物叶型发育的分子调控机制，为作物高光效遗传改良和育种实践提供了重要的理论基础。林浩课题组博士后王慧、生物所牛丽芳研究员以及中国科学院青岛能源所付春祥研究员为论文第一作者，林浩研究员和Million Tadege教授为文章的通讯作者。

叶片是植物进行光合作用的主要器官，叶片的形态、结构等叶型性状直接决定植物的光合作用效率进而影响其生物产量，因此开展叶型性状遗传改良是培育高光效作物新品种的有效途径。

研究发现过表达WOX家族基因STF能够引起水稻、二穗短柄草和柳枝稷等禾本科植物的叶片变宽、加厚，茎秆粗壮，光合效率明显提高，抗倒伏能力显著增强。统计分析发现过表达STF柳枝稷的生物产量增加近一倍，同时刈割后柳枝稷材料再生能力显著增强，表明叶型控制基因STF在提高禾本科作物生物产量方面的巨大应用潜力。进一步研究发现STF基因通过直接抑制植物细胞分裂素氧化酶家族基因表达，导致植物体内植物激素细胞分裂素的动态平衡发生改变。上述研究工作初步揭示了WOX家族基因STF影响植物叶型发育的分子调控机制，为作物高光效遗传改良和育种实践提供了重要的理论基础。


原文链接：

Overexpression of the WOX gene STENOFOLIA improves biomass yield and sugar release in transgenic grasses and display altered cytokinin homeostasis

原文摘要：

Lignocellulosic biomass can be a significant source of renewable clean energy with continued improvement in biomass yield and bioconversion strategies. In higher plants, the leaf blade is the central energy convertor where solar energy and CO2 are assimilated to make the building blocks for biomass production. Here we report that introducing the leaf blade development regulator STENOFOLIA (STF), a WOX family transcription factor, into the biofuel crop switchgrass, significantly improves both biomass yield and sugar release. We found that STFoverexpressing switchgrass plants produced approximately 2-fold more dry biomass and release approximately 1.8-fold more solubilized sugars without pretreatment compared to controls. The biomass increase was attributed mainly to increased leaf width and stem thickness, which was also consistent in STF transgenic rice and Brachypodium, and appeared to be caused by enhanced cell proliferation. STF directly binds to multiple regions in the promoters of some cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenase (CKX) genes and represses their expression in all three transgenic grasses. This repression was accompanied by a significant increase in active cytokinin content in transgenic rice leaves, suggesting that the increase in biomass productivity and sugar release could at least in part be associated with improved cytokinin levels caused by repression of cytokinin degrading enzymes. Our study provides a new tool for improving biomass feedstock yield in bioenergy crops, and uncovers a novel mechanistic insight in the function of STF, which may also apply to other repressive WOXgenes that are master regulators of several key plant developmental programs.

doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1006649

作者：林浩

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