GSW3.1, a novel gene controlling grain size and weight in rice
Yifei Jiang,
Mingao Zhou,
Simin Ke,
Xiaoxiao Deng,
Yangsheng Li
Affiliations
Yifei Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, China
Mingao Zhou
State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, China
Simin Ke
State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, China
Xiaoxiao Deng
Corresponding authors.; State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, China
Yangsheng Li
Corresponding authors.; State Key Laboratory of Hybrid Rice, Key Laboratory for Research and Utilization of Heterosis in Indica Rice, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, Hubei, China
Grain size and weight are closely related traits determining yield in rice (Oryza sativa L.). Since indica and japonica rice varieties differ significantly in multiple traits, a high-generation recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from the crossing LH9 (indica) and RPY (japonica) was used to map grain-related traits in six environments. Pyramiding of the quantitative trait loci (QTL) for thousand-grain weight showed that combinations of multiple QTL significantly increased the phenotypic effect. A novel gene named GSW3.1 controlling grain size and weight was discovered using the major QTL for the co-localization of grain width and thousand-grain weight on chromosome 3. Gene editing revealed that GSW3.1 (LOC_Os03g16850) was pleiotropic, positively regulating grain size and weight while affecting several other agronomic traits. Haplotype analysis indicated that some traits, including grain width and weight, were highly correlated with indica-japonica differentiation.
