BioProject

Improving the yield by modifying plant architecture is key to progressive crop domestication. More...

Improving the yield by modifying plant architecture is key to progressive crop domestication. Here, we show that a 110-kb deletion on the short arm of chromosome 7 promotes the critical transition from semi-prostrate growth and low yield in wild rice (Oryza rufipogon), to erect growth and high yield in Asian cultivated rice (O. sativa). The microdeletion harbors a tandem repeat of seven putative Cys2-His2 zinc-finger genes. Three of these genes regulate the plant architecture in O. rufipogon and are closely linked to the previously identified PROSTRATE GROWTH 1 (PROG1) gene. Therefore, we refer to this locus as RICE PLANT ARCHITECTURE DOMESTICATION (RPAD). Furthermore, a similar but independent 113-kb deletion was detected at the RPAD locus in African cultivated rice. These results indicate that the deletions, coupled with the loss of a tandem repeat of zinc-finger genes, drove the parallel domestication of plant architecture in Asian and African rice. Less...