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Updated: Jul 15, 2025

Measuring Gene Expression in Bombarded Barley Aleurone Layers with Increased Throughput
Published on: March 30, 2018
Type I MADS-box transcription factor TaMADS-GS regulates grain size by stabilizing cytokinin signalling during
Jianing Zhang1, Zhaoheng Zhang1, Ruijie Zhang1
1Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding, Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis and Utilization (MOE), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China.
Abstract:
Grain size is one of the important traits in wheat breeding programs aimed at improving yield, and cytokinins, mainly involved in cell division, have a positive impact on grain size. Here, we identified a novel wheat gene TaMADS-GS encoding type I MADS-box transcription factor, which regulates the cytokinins signalling pathway during early stages of grain development to modulate grain size and weight in wheat. TaMADS-GS is exclusively expressed in grains at early stage of seed development and its knockout leads to delayed endosperm cellularization, smaller grain size and lower grain weight. TaMADS-GS protein interacts with the Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 (PRC2) and leads to repression of genes encoding cytokinin oxidase/dehydrogenases (CKXs) stimulating cytokinins inactivation by mediating accumulation of the histone H3 trimethylation at lysine 27 (H3K27me3). Through the screening of a large wheat germplasm collection, an elite allele of the TaMADS-GS exhibits higher ability to repress expression of genes inactivating cytokinins and a positive correlation with grain size and weight, thus representing a novel marker for breeding programs in wheat. Overall, these findings support the relevance of TaMADS-GS as a key regulator of wheat grain size and weight.
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