Subfunctionalisation and Self-repression of Duplicated E1 Homologues Finetunes Soybean Flowering and Adaptation

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2024 Jul 22

PMID 39039090

Authors

Chao Fang

Zhihui Sun

Shichen Li

Tong Su

Lingshuang Wang

Lidong Dong

Haiyang Li

Lanxin Li

Lingping Kong

Zhiquan Yang

Xiaoya Lin

Alibek Zatybekov

Baohui Liu

Fanjiang Kong

Sijia Lu

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Soybean is a photoperiod-sensitive staple crop. Its photoperiodic flowering has major consequences for latitudinal adaptation and grain yield. Here, we identify and characterise a flowering locus named Time of flower 4b (Tof4b), which encodes E1-Like b (E1Lb), a homologue of the key soybean floral repressor E1. Tof4b protein physically associates with the promoters of two FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) genes to repress their transcription and delay flowering to impart soybean adaptation to high latitudes. Three E1 homologues undergo subfunctionalisation and show differential subcellular localisation. Moreover, they all possess self-repression capability and each suppresses the two homologous counterparts. Subfunctionalisation and the transcriptional regulation of E1 genes collectively finetune flowering time and high-latitude adaptation in soybean. We propose a model for the functional fate of the three E1 genes after the soybean whole-genome duplication events, refine the molecular mechanisms underlying high-latitude adaption, and provide a potential molecular-breeding resource.

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