J Integr Plant Biol ›› 2025, Vol. 67 ›› Issue (5): 1307-1322.DOI: 10.1111/jipb.13856

• • 上一篇    下一篇

  

  • 收稿日期:2024-12-05 接受日期:2025-01-11 出版日期:2025-05-01 发布日期:2025-05-12

Florigen-like protein OsFTL1 promotes flowering without essential florigens Hd3a and RFT1 in rice

Shaobo Wei1,2†, Long Cheng3†, Hongge Qian4†, Xia Li1,2, Lianguang Shang4, Yujie Zhou1, Xiangyuan Ye1, Yupeng Zhou1, Yuan Gao1, Lin Cheng1, Chen Xie1, Qingwen Yang1,2, Qian Qian1* and Wenbin Zhou1,2*   

  1. 1. Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Breeding, Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
    3. MOA Key Laboratory of Crop Ecophysiology and Farming System in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China
    4. Lingnan Laboratory of Modern Agriculture, Genome Analysis Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518124, China

    †These authors contributed equally to this work.
    *Correspondences: Qian Qian (qianqian@caas.cn); Wenbin Zhou (zhouwenbin@caas.cn, Dr. Zhou is fully responsible for the distributions of all materials associated with this article)
  • Received:2024-12-05 Accepted:2025-01-11 Online:2025-05-01 Published:2025-05-12
  • Supported by:
    This research was supported by grants from the Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (32330079), the STI 2030‐Major Projects (2023ZD0407203), the Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Nanfan Special Project of CAAS (YBXM02), the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2023M743846) and the Youth Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (32401746).

Abstract: Flowering time is a critical agronomic trait in rice, directly influencing grain yield and adaptability to specific planting regions and seasons. Florigens, including FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) proteins Hd3a (OsFTL2) and RFT1 (OsFTL3), play central roles in transmitting flowering signals through rice's photoperiod regulatory network. While Hd3a and RFT1 have been extensively studied, the functions and interactions of other FT-like proteins remain unclear, limiting advancements in breeding strategies for early-maturing rice varieties. Here, we demonstrate that the florigen-like protein OsFTL1 forms a florigen activation complex (FAC) and promotes flowering under both short-day and long-day conditions. OsFTL1 localizes to the nucleus and cytoplasm, with predominant expression in the shoot base, facilitating its mobilization to the shoot apical meristem (SAM) to initiate flowering. Overexpression of OsFTL1 (OsFTL1-OE) in leaves or shoot bases significantly accelerates flowering and alters plant architecture. In the nucleus, OsFTL1 interacts with GF14c and OsFD1 to form an FAC, activating OsMADS14 and OsMADS15 expression to drive flowering. Markedly, OsFTL1-OE plants deficient in Hd3a and RFT1 exhibited earlier flowering compared with wild-type plants, indicating that OsFTL1 can independently promote flowering. Furthermore, haplotype analysis identified OsFTL1-Hap3, a beneficial variant associated with early flowering and comparable grain yields. These findings revealed that OsFTL1 can substitute for Hd3a and RFT1 in FAC formation, promoting flowering across photoperiods, and highlighting its potential application in breeding early-maturing, high-yield rice varieties suitable for diverse environments.

Key words: beneficial haplotype, florigen, flowering time, OsFTL1, rice

[an error occurred while processing this directive]