title: Introgression of qPE9-1 allele, conferring the panicle erectness, leads to the decrease of grain yield per plant in japonica rice (Oryza sativa L.).
abstract: Panicle architecture is closely related to yield formation. The qPE9-1 gene has been proved to be widely used in high-yield rice cultivar developments, conferring erect panicle character in japonica rice. Recently, qPE9-1 has been successfully cloned; however, the genetic effect on grain yield per plant of the erect panicle allele qPE9-1 is controversial yet. In the present study, a drooping panicle parent Nongken 57, carrying qpe9-1 allele, was used as recurrent parent to successively backcross to a typical erect panicle line from the double haploid (DH) population (Wuyunjing 8/Nongken 57), which was previously shown to carry qPE9-1 allele. Thus a pair of near-isogenic lines (NILs) was developed. The comparison of agronomic traits between the NILs showed that, when qpe9-1 was replaced by qPE9-1, the panicle architecture was changed from drooping to erect; moreover, the panicle length, plant height, 1000-grain weight and the tillers were significantly decreased, consequently resulting in the dramatic decrease of grain yield per plant by 30%. Therefore, we concluded that the qPE9-1 was a major factor controlling panicle architecture, and qPE9-1 had pleiotropic nature, with negative effects on grain yield per plant. This result strongly suggests that the erect panicle allele qPE9-1 should be used together with other favorable genes in the high-yield breeding practice. In addition, the effect of qPE9-1 on eating and cooking quality was also discussed in the present study.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Physiology, Key Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics, Ministry of Education, Agricultural College of Yangzhou University, 12# East Wenhui Rd., Jiangsu 225009, China.
authors.forename: Xiuhua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Zujian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shengyuan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zeng
authors.forename: Chunyan
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Juncheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Qingcai
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.forename: Minghong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Changjie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yan
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D003296:Cooking; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000191:economics / Q000235:genetics; D035264:Flowers / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000235:genetics*; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D006238:Haploidy; D006824:Hybridization, Genetic; D012275:Oryza / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000191:economics / Q000235:genetics*