Open AccessTargeted suppression of gibberellin biosynthetic genes ZmGA20ox3 and ZmGA20ox5 produces a short stature maize ideotype
Author(s) -
Paciorek Tomasz,
Chiapelli Brandi J.,
Wang Joan Yiqiong,
Paciorek Marta,
Yang Heping,
Sant Anagha,
Val Dale L.,
Boddu Jayanand,
Liu Kang,
Gu Chiyu,
Brzostowski Lillian F.,
Wang Huai,
Allen Edwards M.,
Dietrich Charles R.,
Gillespie Kelly M.,
Edwards Janice,
Goldshmidt Alexander,
Neelam Anil,
Slewinski Thomas L.
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
plant biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.525
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1467-7652
pISSN - 1467-7644
DOI - 10.1111/pbi.13797
Subject(s) - ideotype , biology , gibberellin , staple food , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , crop , agronomy , botany , agriculture , genetics , ecology
Summary Maize is one of the world’s most widely cultivated crops. As future demands for maize will continue to rise, fields will face ever more frequent and extreme weather patterns that directly affect crop productivity. Development of environmentally resilient crops with improved standability in the field, like wheat and rice, was enabled by shifting the architecture of plants to a short stature ideotype. However, such architectural change has not been implemented in maize due to the unique interactions between gibberellin (GA) and floral morphology which limited the use of the same type of mutations as in rice and wheat. Here, we report the development of a short stature maize ideotype in commercial hybrid germplasm, which was generated by targeted suppression of the biosynthetic pathway for GA. To accomplish this, we utilized a dominant, miRNA‐based construct expressed in a hemizygous state to selectively reduce expression of the ZmGA20ox3 and ZmGA20ox5 genes that control GA biosynthesis primarily in vegetative tissues. Suppression of both genes resulted in the reduction of GA levels leading to inhibition of cell elongation in internodal tissues, which reduced plant height. Expression of the miRNA did not alter GA levels in reproductive tissues, and thus, the reproductive potential of the plants remained unchanged. As a result, we developed a dominant, short‐stature maize ideotype that is conducive for the commercial production of hybrid maize. We expect that the new maize ideotype would enable more efficient and more sustainable maize farming for a growing world population.