TY - JOUR
T1 - Induced mutations in circadian clock regulator Mat-a facilitated short-season adaptation and range extension in cultivated barley
AU - Zakhrabekova, Shakhira
AU - Gough, Simon P.
AU - Braumann, Ilka
AU - Mul̈ler, André H.
AU - Lundqvist, Joakim
AU - Ahmann, Katharina
AU - Dockter, Christoph
AU - Matyszczak, Izabela
AU - Kurowska, Marzena
AU - Druka, Arnis
AU - Waugh, Robbie
AU - Granerd, Andreas
AU - Stein, Nils
AU - Steuernagel, Burkhard
AU - Lundqvist, Udda
AU - Hansson, Mats
PY - 2012/3/13
Y1 - 2012/3/13
N2 - Time to flowering has an important impact on yield and has been a key trait in the domestication of crop plants and the spread of agriculture. In 1961, the cultivar Mari (mat-a.8) was the very first induced early barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) mutant to be released into commercial production. Mari extended the range of two-row spring barley cultivation as a result of its photoperiod insensitivity. Since its release, Mari or its derivatives have been used extensively across the world to facilitate short-season adaptation and further geographic range extension. By exploiting an extended historical collection of early-flowering mutants of barley, we identified Praematurum-a (Mat-a), the gene responsible for this key adaptive phenotype, as a homolog of the Arabidopsis thaliana circadian clock regulator Early Flowering 3 (Elf3). We characterized 87 induced mat-a mutant lines and identified >20 different mata alleles that had clear mutations leading to a defective putative ELF3 protein. Expression analysis of HvElf3 and Gigantea in mutant and wild-type plants demonstrated that mat-a mutations disturb the flowering pathway, leading to the early phenotype. Alleles of Mat-a therefore have important and demonstrated breeding value in barley but probably also in many other daylength- sensitive crop plants, where they may tune adaptation to different geographic regions and climatic conditions, a critical issue in times of global warming.
AB - Time to flowering has an important impact on yield and has been a key trait in the domestication of crop plants and the spread of agriculture. In 1961, the cultivar Mari (mat-a.8) was the very first induced early barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) mutant to be released into commercial production. Mari extended the range of two-row spring barley cultivation as a result of its photoperiod insensitivity. Since its release, Mari or its derivatives have been used extensively across the world to facilitate short-season adaptation and further geographic range extension. By exploiting an extended historical collection of early-flowering mutants of barley, we identified Praematurum-a (Mat-a), the gene responsible for this key adaptive phenotype, as a homolog of the Arabidopsis thaliana circadian clock regulator Early Flowering 3 (Elf3). We characterized 87 induced mat-a mutant lines and identified >20 different mata alleles that had clear mutations leading to a defective putative ELF3 protein. Expression analysis of HvElf3 and Gigantea in mutant and wild-type plants demonstrated that mat-a mutations disturb the flowering pathway, leading to the early phenotype. Alleles of Mat-a therefore have important and demonstrated breeding value in barley but probably also in many other daylength- sensitive crop plants, where they may tune adaptation to different geographic regions and climatic conditions, a critical issue in times of global warming.
KW - Earliness
KW - Food security
KW - Molecular breeding
KW - Synteny
KW - Timing of flowering
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84858173210
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1113009109
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1113009109
M3 - Article
C2 - 22371569
AN - SCOPUS:84858173210
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 109
SP - 4326
EP - 4331
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 11
ER -
