title: Variation in the flowering gene SELF PRUNING 5G promotes day-neutrality and early yield in tomato.
abstract: Plants evolved so that their flowering is triggered by seasonal changes in day length. However, day-length sensitivity in crops limits their geographical range of cultivation, and thus modification of the photoperiod response was critical for their domestication. Here we show that loss of day-length-sensitive flowering in tomato was driven by the florigen paralog and flowering repressor SELF-PRUNING 5G (SP5G). SP5G expression is induced to high levels during long days in wild species, but not in cultivated tomato because of cis-regulatory variation. CRISPR/Cas9-engineered mutations in SP5G cause rapid flowering and enhance the compact determinate growth habit of field tomatoes, resulting in a quick burst of flower production that translates to an early yield. Our findings suggest that pre-existing variation in SP5G facilitated the expansion of cultivated tomato beyond its origin near the equator in South America, and they provide a compelling demonstration of the power of gene editing to rapidly improve yield traits in crop breeding.
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Niels A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, Wonkwang University, Iksan, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Soon Ju
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Inga
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schmalenbach
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Developmental Biology, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Ryosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hayama
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: The Boyce Thompson Institute, Ithaca, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van Eck
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany.|Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin, INRA, AgroParisTech, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Versailles, France.
authors.forename: José M
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5033-7192
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, USA.
authors.forename: Zachary B
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Lippman
mesh_terms: D064113:CRISPR-Cas Systems; D035264:Flowers / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins