IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-61917-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

AcRR1 of Agropyron cristatum boosts wheat yield by regulating grain number per spike and heading date

Author

Listed:
  • Wenjing Yang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Haiming Han

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Huihui Ma

    (Zaozhuang University)

  • Ping Yang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Jianqing Niu

    (Yazhouwan National Laboratory)

  • Xinye Liu

    (Hebei Normal University)

  • Jinpeng Zhang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Shenghui Zhou

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Kai Qi

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Baojin Guo

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Yida Lin

    (Yazhouwan National Laboratory)

  • Xinming Yang

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences)

  • Xiaomin Guo

    (Yazhouwan National Laboratory)

  • Hong-Qing Ling

    (Yazhouwan National Laboratory)

  • Lihui Li

    (Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
    Yazhouwan National Laboratory)

Abstract

Uncovering desirable alien genes from wild species is important for increasing genetic variation and ensuring wheat production. Here, we identify a type-B response regulator (RR) AcRR1 of Agropyron cristatum. Ectopic expression of AcRR1 in common wheat increases the grain number per spike without decreasing the grain weight, thereby enhancing the grain yield by 9.7‒12.3% under field conditions. Expression of the AcRR1 gene also promotes plant growth and shortens the duration of vernalization in the transgenic plants. We reveal that AcRR1 reprogrammes diverse transcriptional processes in wheat by activating the expression of TaWOX11-2D and TabHLH25-5B–TaFTs, which are involved in floret fertility and early heading. Our results demonstrate that AcRR1 from A. cristatum is a valuable alien gene with the capacity to activate genetic networks for wheat yield formation, offering a promising avenue for enhancing wheat productivity through the introduction of alien genes.

Suggested Citation

  • Wenjing Yang & Haiming Han & Huihui Ma & Ping Yang & Jianqing Niu & Xinye Liu & Jinpeng Zhang & Shenghui Zhou & Kai Qi & Baojin Guo & Yida Lin & Xinming Yang & Xiaomin Guo & Hong-Qing Ling & Lihui Li, 2025. "AcRR1 of Agropyron cristatum boosts wheat yield by regulating grain number per spike and heading date," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-61917-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-61917-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61917-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-61917-5?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
    ---><---

    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_s41467-025-61917-5. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.