Overexpression of TIFY genes promotes plant growth in rice through jasmonate signaling

Abstract

<p>Because environmental stress can reduce crop growth and yield, the identification of genes that enhance agronomic traits is increasingly important. Previous screening of full-length cDNA overexpressing (FOX) rice lines revealed that OsTIFY11b, one of 20 TIFY proteins in rice, affects plant size, grain weight, and grain size. Therefore, we analyzed the effect of <i>OsTIFY11b</i> and nine other TIFY genes on the growth and yield of corresponding TIFY-FOX lines. Regardless of temperature, grain weight and culm length were enhanced in lines overexpressing TIFY11 subfamily genes, except <i>OsTIFY11e.</i> The TIFY-FOX plants exhibited increased floret number and reduced days to flowering, as well as reduced spikelet fertility, and <i>OsTIFY10b</i>, in particular, enhanced grain yield by minimizing decreases in fertility. We suggest that the enhanced growth of TIFY-transgenic rice is related to regulation of the jasmonate signaling pathway, as in <i>Arabidopsis.</i> Moreover, we discuss the potential application of TIFY overexpression for improving crop yield.</p