OsFT coordinates photosynthetic stability and carotenoid metabolism to regulate tillering in rice.
Liu J, Chen Y, Zhu L, Zhang G, Li Q
Summary
PubMedWhy it matters This matters because it could help farmers grow more rice with less water — important as droughts become more frequent and rice feeds half the world's population.
Researchers found a gene in rice that acts like a manager, coordinating how the plant captures sunlight and produces certain pigments. When this gene is working well, the plant grows more productive side shoots and becomes more resistant to drought. By understanding this gene, scientists may be able to breed rice varieties that produce more food even in dry or stressful conditions.
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Scientists discovered a rice gene called OsFT that helps the plant balance energy production and growth, leading to more tillers (side shoots) and higher grain yields, while also making rice better at surviving drought.
Key Findings
The OsFT protein physically interacts with a photosynthetic repair protein (OsFtsH2) to stabilize the plant's light-harvesting machinery and improve photosynthetic efficiency.
OsFT regulates the carotenoid (pigment) production pathway, which in turn controls levels of two key plant hormones — abscisic acid (ABA) and strigolactone (SL) — that determine how many side shoots (tillers) rice forms.
Overexpressing the OsFT gene increased both drought tolerance and overall grain yield in rice plants.
Abstract Preview
Photosynthesis and tillering number have been essential components determining grain yield in rice. However, the genetic mechanism of carotenoid biosynthesis pathway, which is one of the photosynth...
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