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. 2025 Apr;23(4):1118-1120.
doi: 10.1111/pbi.14569. Epub 2025 Jan 15.

Manipulation of WUSCHEL orthologue expression improves the forage yield and quality in Medicago

Hongfeng Wang #  1   2 , Yiteng Xu #  1 , Yan Wang  1 , Zhiqun Gu  1 , Feng Yuan  3 , Lu Han  1 , Shupeng Liu  1 , Shuwei Liu  1 , Zhichao Lu  1 , Ying'e Chen  4 , Qiaolan Liang  4 , Chunxiang Fu  5 , Ruicai Long  6 , Qingchuan Yang  6 , Zeng-Yu Wang  7 , Chuanen Zhou  1
Affiliations

Manipulation of WUSCHEL orthologue expression improves the forage yield and quality in Medicago

Hongfeng Wang et al. Plant Biotechnol J. 2025 Apr.
No abstract available

Keywords: HDL; alfalfa; branching; flowering; forage improvement.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
HDL‐OX improves forage biomass and quality of alfalfa. (a–c) Primary and secondary branch phenotype (a, b) and number (c) of the wild‐type and HDL‐OX plants. Bars = 4 cm. (d, e) Plant height (d) and internode (IN) length (e). (f) HDL binding to the CNNGCNA motif (upper panel); Interaction of HDL with the CNNGCNA and its substituted sequences in LUC assays (lower panel). (g) Expression of branch regulation genes. (h) LUC assay showing repression of MsMAX3 by HDL in Arabidopsis protoplasts. (i) Location of the fragments (P1–P3) used for ChIP‐qPCR assays in the MsMAX3 promoter. (j, k) ChIP‐qPCR and EMSA assays showing that HDL binds to the P2 fragment of the MsMAX3 promoter. (l) Flowering phenotype. Bars = 4 cm. (m) Days of the first flower flowering. (n) Expression of MsFTa1. (o) LUC assay showing repression of MsFTa1 by HDL. (p) Location of the fragments (P1–P5) used for ChIP‐qPCR assays in the MsFTa1 promoter. (q, r) ChIP‐qPCR and EMSA assays showing that HDL binds to the P3 fragment of the MsFTa1 promoter in vivo. (s–u) The HDL‐OX plants show increases in biomass (s), crude protein (t) and crude fat (u) content. Values represent the mean ± SD; all statistical significance was determined by the Student's t‐test (*P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001). (v) A working model of HDL  in forage improvement.
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References

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