J Integr Plant Biol. ›› 2019, Vol. 61 ›› Issue (3): 359-376.DOI: 10.1111/jipb.12720

Special Issue: Flowering

• Research Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

TaZIM-A1 negatively regulates flowering time in common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Hong Liu1,2†, Tian Li2†, Yamei Wang2, Jun Zheng2, Huifang Li2, Chenyang Hao2 and Xueyong Zhang1,2*   

  1. 1College of Agricultural Sciences, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
    2Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Resources and Germplasm Enhancement, Ministry of Agriculture, Institute of Crop Science, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

    These authors contributed equally to this article.
    *Correspondence:

    Email: Xueyong Zhang (zhangxueyong@caas.cn)
  • Received:2018-04-19 Accepted:2018-09-11 Online:2018-09-18 Published:2019-03-01

Abstract: Flowering time is a critical determinant of regional adaptation for crops and has strong effects on crop yields. Here, we report that TaZIM-A1, an atypical GATA-like transcription factor, is a negative regulator of flowering in wheat. TaZIM-A1 possessed weak transcriptional repression activity, with its CCT domain functioning as the major inhibitory region. TaZIM-A1 expression exhibited a typical circadian oscillation pattern under various light regimes. Overexpression of TaZIM-A1 caused a delay in flowering time and a decrease in thousand-kernel weight (TKW) in wheat under long-day conditions. Moreover, TaZIM-A1 directly bound to the promoters of TaCO-1 and TaFT-1 and downregulated their expression. Sequence analysis of a collection of common wheat cultivars identified three and two haplotypes for TaZIM-A1 and TaZIM-B1, respectively. Association analysis revealed that TaZIM-A1-HapI/-HapIII and TaZIM-B1-HapI have undergone strong positive selection during modern wheat breeding, likely due to their association with earlier heading and higher TKW. Diagnostic markers were developed for these haplotypes that can be used for wheat cultivar improvement, via marker-assisted breeding.

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