IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-57811-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A LTR retrotransposon insertion leads to leafy phenotype in maize by elevating ZmOM66 expression

Author

Listed:
  • Xuemei Du

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
    China Agricultural University)

  • Zhuoyi Xu

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Jiawen Lu

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Yan Chen

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Xinpeng Gao

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Jie Zhang

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Cheng He

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Liying Huang

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Wei Guo

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Yangbo Cui

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Xiaoli Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Junmin Ai

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Li Li

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Yu Cui

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Yunjun Liu

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Junjie Fu

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Riliang Gu

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Jianhua Wang

    (China Agricultural University)

  • Guoying Wang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

Abstract

Leafy (Lfy1) is a classical dominant mutant showing more leaf number above primary ear and later flowering time in maize, but the causal gene together with its underlying genetic mechanism are unknown. Here, we report the cloning of Lfy1 mutant, and find that a retrotransposon insertion leads to leafy phenotype by elevating expression of its neighboring gene ZmOM66. ZmOM66 encodes an AAA+ ATPase that locate in mitochondria and interacts with itself. ZmOM66 overexpression affects the starch degradation, as well as contents of glucose, pyruvic acid, trehalose-6-phosphate, and TCA cycle related amino acids, and influences expression patterns of circadian clock genes. Moreover, expressions of floral related genes, including photoperiod regulated gene ZmPHYB1, integrator genes ZCN7, ZNC8 and ZCN12, and floral meristem identity genes ZMM4, ZMM15, and MASD67, are also significantly decreased by ZmOM66 overexpression. These results deepen our understanding of the regulatory mechanism of floral transition and leaf number in plant.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuemei Du & Zhuoyi Xu & Jiawen Lu & Yan Chen & Xinpeng Gao & Jie Zhang & Cheng He & Liying Huang & Wei Guo & Yangbo Cui & Xiaoli Wang & Junmin Ai & Li Li & Yu Cui & Yunjun Liu & Junjie Fu & Riliang Gu, 2025. "A LTR retrotransposon insertion leads to leafy phenotype in maize by elevating ZmOM66 expression," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-14, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57811-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57811-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-57811-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-57811-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liyi Zhang & Jiang Hu & Xiaolei Han & Jingjing Li & Yuan Gao & Christopher M. Richards & Caixia Zhang & Yi Tian & Guiming Liu & Hera Gul & Dajiang Wang & Yu Tian & Chuanxin Yang & Minghui Meng & Gaope, 2019. "A high-quality apple genome assembly reveals the association of a retrotransposon and red fruit colour," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-13, December.
    2. Jianfeng Xu & Jiejun Shi & Xiaodong Cui & Ya Cui & Jingyi Jessica Li & Ajay Goel & Xi Chen & Jean-Pierre Issa & Jianzhong Su & Wei Li, 2021. "Cellular Heterogeneity–Adjusted cLonal Methylation (CHALM) improves prediction of gene expression," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. Yangang Pan & Jingyu Zhan & Yining Jiang & Di Xia & Simon Scheuring, 2023. "A concerted ATPase cycle of the protein transporter AAA-ATPase Bcs1," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. repec:plo:pgen00:1005369 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jingyu Zhan & Allison Zeher & Rick Huang & Wai Kwan Tang & Lisa M. Jenkins & Di Xia, 2024. "Conformations of Bcs1L undergoing ATP hydrolysis suggest a concerted translocation mechanism for folded iron-sulfur protein substrate," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Mohammed Alser & Julien Eudine & Onur Mutlu, 2025. "Taming large-scale genomic analyses via sparsified genomics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-21, December.
    3. Ting Wang & Shiyao Duan & Chen Xu & Yi Wang & Xinzhong Zhang & Xuefeng Xu & Liyang Chen & Zhenhai Han & Ting Wu, 2023. "Pan-genome analysis of 13 Malus accessions reveals structural and sequence variations associated with fruit traits," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    4. Shirong Zhang & Shutao He & Xin Zhu & Yunfei Wang & Qionghuan Xie & Xianrang Song & Chunwei Xu & Wenxian Wang & Ligang Xing & Chengqing Xia & Qian Wang & Wenfeng Li & Xiaochen Zhang & Jinming Yu & She, 2023. "DNA methylation profiling to determine the primary sites of metastatic cancers using formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissues," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-57811-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.