The closely related wild rice species Oryza rufipogon is considered the progenitor of cultivated rice (Oryza sativa). The transition from the characteristic plant architecture of wild rice to that of cultivated rice was one of the most important events in rice domestication; however, the molecular basis of this key domestication transition has not been elucidated. Here we show that the PROG1 gene controls aspects of wild-rice plant architecture, including tiller angle and number of tillers. The gene encodes a newly identified zinc-finger nuclear transcription factor with transcriptional activity and is mapped on chromosome 7. PROG1 is predominantly expressed in the axillary meristems, the site of tiller bud formation. Rice transformation experiments demonstrate that artificial selection of an amino acid substitution in the PROG1 protein during domestication led to the transition from the plant architecture of wild rice to that of domesticated rice.
由于其相近的親緣關(guān)系，野生稻被認(rèn)為是栽培稻的祖先。水稻株型由野生稻向栽培稻的轉(zhuǎn)變是水稻人工馴化過程中最重要的事件之一，然而這一轉(zhuǎn)變的分子基礎(chǔ)并不清楚。本文我們發(fā)現(xiàn)PROG1控制野生稻株型的多個方面，包括分蘗角和分蘗數(shù)。PROG1基因編碼一個新的定位在細(xì)胞核內(nèi)的鋅指蛋白轉(zhuǎn)錄因子，位于水稻7號染色體，具有轉(zhuǎn)錄激活活性。PROG1主要在形成分蘗芽的腋芽分生組織表達(dá)。水稻轉(zhuǎn)基因?qū)嶒灡砻鱌ROG1蛋白中一個氨基酸的置換在人工馴化過程中被人為選擇之后導(dǎo)致水稻株型由野生稻轉(zhuǎn)變成栽培稻。