小麦TaAP2-8基因对穗发育的调控功能分析

Common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most important food crops worldwide. Improving wheat yield has been the main objective of breeders. Wheat inflorescence development is of vital importance to the formation of yield. Therefore, discovering genes involved in the development of inflorescence and revealing their functional mechanism are valuable for understanding and improving grain yield in wheat. APETALA2 (AP2) transcription factor subfamily genes are involved in the reproductive development of plants, such as spikelet differentiation and seed development. This project intends to select the AP2 subfamily gene TaAP2-8 which is specifically expressed in the spike as the research target, to identify the gene function using transgenic overexpression and CRISPR/Cas9 knockout technology, and to preliminarily reveal the gene network and regulatory mechanism of TaAP2-8in wheat growth and development via transcriptome sequencing and gene sequence variation analysis. In the end, possible applications of the gene in wheat high-yield molecular breeding will be discussed.

小麦是我国重要粮食作物，提高小麦产量是育种家的主要目标之一。小麦穗部的发育调控对产量形成至关重要，挖掘小麦穗部发育调控基因资源并探讨其作用机理对于开展小麦高产分子育种具有重要意义。研究表明，转录因子AP2亚家族基因在植物生殖发育调控过程中具有重要作用，特别是参与了小穗分化和种子发育的调控过程。本研究拟选取在穗部特异表达的AP2转录因子TaAP2-8基因为研究对象，利用转基因超表达和CRISPR/Cas9基因敲除等技术鉴定其在幼穗发育调控过程中的功能，并通过转录组测序及基因序列变异分析，初步解析其在小麦生长发育过程中调控的基因网络与作用机制，探讨该基因在小麦高产分子育种中的应用途径。

小麦穗部的发育调控对产量形成至关重要，挖掘小麦穗部发育调控基因资源并探讨其作用机理对于开展小麦高产分子育种具有重要意义。本研究以AP2转录因子家族TaAP2-8基因为研究对象，发现该基因主要在幼穗及顶端分生组织中表达，编码蛋白定位于细胞核且具有转录激活活性。通过转基因超表达、CRISPR/Cas9基因敲除、单倍型分析等方法进行研究，结果表明TaAP2-8基因能够影响小麦株型、小穗数、小穗密度和千粒重等，具有增产潜力。利用转录组测序及酵母双杂交等技术对TaAP2-8基因进行深入的基因功能分析，发现该基因可能通过生长素途径参与调控小麦穗部发育等性状。本项目为作物产量性状遗传改良提供了基因资源和理论基础。