Stripping off the rice panicle: induced genetic variation awakens the sheathed spikelet for a better yield

Abstract

This article comments on:

Ballichatla S, Gokulan CG, Barbadikar KM, Hake AA, Potupureddi G, Guha PK, Phule AS, Magar ND, Balija V, Awalellu K, Kokku P, Golla S, Sundaram RM, Padmakumari AP, Laha GS, Senguttuvel P, Lella Venkata SR, Patel HK, Sonti RV, Maganti SM. 2024. Impairment in a member of AP2/ERF and F-box family protein enhances complete panicle exsertion in rice. Journal of Experimental Botany 75, https://doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erae244.

Keywords: CPE; QTL; mutagenesis; panicle; rice.

Fig. 1.

Induced mutagenesis-based genomic strategy to dissect the complete panicle exsertion (CPE) trait for rice crop improvement. (A) Schematic representation of different panicle architectures, such as incomplete panicle exsertion (IPE), CPE, elongated uppermost internode (EUI), and their associated concerns in rice crop production. Ballichatla et al. (2024) exposed the IPE-type Samba Mahsuri (SM) to EMS-induced mutagenesis to develop a CPE-109 line, which was subsequently crossed with the parental SM to generate a mapping population. (B) Large-scale phenotyping and genome-wide SNP genotyping deployed in an integrated genomic strategy (including MutMap) delineated potential genomic regions controlling the CPE trait in rice. (C) The delineated functional mutations and the allelic variants regulate CPE by modulating several hormonal biosynthetic process; however, the intricate gene regulatory mechanism is yet to be deciphered. The identified functional loci have a great significance in translational genomics (genome editing and marker-assisted breeding) for rice improvement targeting the CPE trait. (D) Precise/targeted editing of the genetic background of wild-type landraces (IPE) to develop elite varieties with CPE. (E) Marker-/haplotype-assisted introgression breeding to improve the existing mega rice varieties with the CPE trait. (F) Induced mutagenesis-based integrated genomic strategy led to development of high-yielding rice varieties restructured with desirable panicle architecture (CPE) which has high agronomical and economic importance. The image of the crops are created with Biorender.com.