Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 19, 2025
07:42
Rapid Analysis of Circadian Phenotypes in Arabidopsis Protoplasts Transfected with a Luminescent Clock Reporter
Published on: September 17, 2016
12.9K
Wheat EARLY FLOWERING 3 affects heading date without disrupting circadian oscillations
Lukas Wittern1, Gareth Steed1, Laura J Taylor1
1Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK.
Plant Physiology
|December 1, 2022
Summary
Plant breeders indirectly selected for circadian clock genes in wheat, influencing heading date. Variations in EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3) homoeologues regulate heading time, offering new breeding targets.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biology
- Genetics
- Crop Science
Background:
- Plant breeders have historically selected for traits influenced by circadian clock genes, impacting crop yield and performance.
- Understanding the genetic basis of flowering time is crucial for crop improvement in major cereals like wheat (Triticum aestivum).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of circadian clock-associated genes in regulating heading date in UK and European winter wheat varieties.
- To identify specific genes and genetic variations contributing to earliness in wheat.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an eight-parent Multiparent Advanced Generation Inter-Cross (MAGIC) population of wheat.
- Identified candidate genes (homoeologues of EARLY FLOWERING 3 - ELF3) for Earliness per se (Eps) loci.
- Confirmed a single-nucleotide polymorphism in TaELF3-B1 and analyzed a complex allele at the Eps-D1 locus.
- Used Triticum turgidum cv. Kronos with loss-of-function elf3 alleles to assess ELF3 function.
- Investigated the role of LUX ARRHYTHMO (LUX) in wheat circadian rhythms.
Main Results:
- Identified TaELF3-B1 and TaELF3-D1 as key homoeologues associated with heading date regulation.
- A single-nucleotide polymorphism in TaELF3-B1 underlies the Eps-B1 locus.
- The Eps-D1 locus contains an introgression with an inversion, not a simple deletion, encompassing TaELF3-D1.
- Loss of a single ELF3 homoeologue altered heading date, while loss of all homoeologues affected circadian rhythms.
- Loss of LUX function severely disrupted circadian rhythms in wheat.
- ELF3 and LUX transcripts show distinct expression patterns, suggesting differences in the wheat circadian oscillator compared to Arabidopsis.
Conclusions:
- EARLY FLOWERING 3 (ELF3) homoeologues play a significant role in regulating wheat heading date, potentially independent of their role in the core circadian oscillator.
- Alterations in ELF3 can be selected for heading date without necessarily disrupting circadian rhythms, offering opportunities for targeted crop improvement.
- The wheat circadian oscillator may have a different structure than that of Arabidopsis, with distinct roles for ELF3 and LUX.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:45Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses
34.9K
The circadian—or biological—clock is an intrinsic, timekeeping, molecular mechanism that allows plants to coordinate physiological activities over 24-hour cycles called circadian rhythms. Photoperiodism is a collective term for the biological responses of plants to variations in the relative lengths of dark and light periods. The period of light-exposure is called the photoperiod.
34.9K
02:19Circadian Rhythms and Gene Regulation
4.1K
The biological clock is involved in many aspects of regulating complex physiology in all animals. It was in 1935 when German zoologists, Hans Kalmus and Erwin Bünning, discovered the existence of circadian rhythm in Drosophila melanogaster. However, the internal molecular mechanisms behind the circadian clock remained a mystery until 1984, when Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash, and Michael W. Young discovered the expression of the Per gene oscillating over a 24-hour cycle. In subsequent...
4.1K