Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Institute of Nanfan & Seed Industry, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510316, Guangdong, China
Jun Liu
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Liya Zhang
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Tao Li
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Hongyu Li
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Bin Liu
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Tao Zhao
Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Corresponding author.
The size and shape of rice grains influence their yield and commercial value. We investigated the role of OsDA1, a rice homolog of the Arabidopsis DA1 gene, in regulating grain size and shape. OsDA1 was highly expressed in young spikelets and glumes. Its overexpression led to enlarged seeds with increased width and decreased length/width ratio (LWR) and knocking out OsDA1 reduced grain width and increased grain length and LWR. A R310K point mutation in the DA1-like domain is a potential target for breeding for increased grain width and length. OsDA1 interacted with TCP gene-family proteins to regulate grain size and shape. Our findings deepen our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying grain size regulation and provide useful information for improving grain yield.
