Switching genetic effects of the flowering time gene Hd1 in LD conditions by Ghd7 and OsPRR37 in rice

Abstract

Flowering time control in plants is a major limiting factor on the range of species. Day length, perceived via the photoperiodic pathway, is a critical factor for the induction of flowering. The module of GIGANTEA (GI)-CONSTANS (CO)-FLOWERING LOCUS T in the long day (LD) plant Arabidopsis is conserved in diverse plant species including the short day (SD) plant rice, where this module comprises OsGI-Heading date 1 (Hd1)-Heading date 3a. Hd1, the rice ortholog of Arabidopsis CO, has dual functions in the regulation of flowering time, promoting flowering in SD conditions and delaying it in LD conditions. We herein show genetic interactions among three LD repressor genes: Hd1, Grain number, plant height and heading date 7 (Ghd7), and Oryza sativa Pseudo-Response Regulator37 (OsPRR37). Genetic analyses, including segregation analyses, evaluations of near isogenic lines, and transformation for flowering time demonstrated that Hd1 promoted flowering time in inductive SD and non-inductive LD conditions in genetic condition of loss-of-function Ghd7 and OsPRR37 (ghd7osprr37) in rice. Functional Ghd7 or OsPRR37 may switch the genetic effects of Hd1 from the promotion to the delay of flowering times in LD conditions.