The leaves above the ear serve as a major source of carbohydrates for grain filling in maize. However, increasing the number of leaves above the ear to strengthen the source and improve maize yield remains challenging in modern maize breeding. Here, we clone the causative gene of the quantitative trait locus (QTL) associated with the number of leaves above the ear. The causative gene is the previously reported MADS-box domain-encoding gene Tunicate1 (Tu1), which is responsible for the phenotype of pod corn or Tunicate maize. We show that Tu1 can substantially increase the leaf number above the ear while maintaining the source‒sink balance. A distal upstream 5-base pair (bp) insertion of Tu1 originating from a popcorn landrace enhances its transcription, coregulates its plastochron activators and repressors, and increases the number of leaves above the ear. Field tests demonstrate that the 5-bp insertion of Tu1 can increase grain yields by 11.4% and 9.5% under regular and dense planting conditions, respectively. The discovery of this favorable Tu1 allele from landraces suggests that landraces represent a valuable resource for high-yield breeding of maize.

• MeSH
• alely MeSH
• fenotyp MeSH
• geneticky modifikované rostliny MeSH
• kukuřice setá * genetika   růst a vývoj   metabolismus   MeSH
• listy rostlin * genetika   růst a vývoj   metabolismus   MeSH
• lokus kvantitativního znaku * MeSH
• proteiny domény MADS genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• regulace genové exprese u rostlin * MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny * genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• šlechtění rostlin MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• proteiny domény MADS MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny * MeSH

Sweet maize and popcorn retain tillering growth habit during maize diversification. However, the underlying molecular genetic mechanism remains unknown. Here, we show that the retention of maize tillering is controlled by a major quantitative trait locus (QTL), tin1, which encodes a C2H2-zinc-finger transcription factor that acts independently of tb1. In sweet maize, a splice-site variant from G/GT to C/GT leads to intron retention, which enhances tin1 transcript levels and consequently increases tiller number. Comparative genomics analysis and DNA diversity analysis reveal that tin1 is under parallel selection across different cereal species. tin1 is involved in multiple pathways, directly represses two tiller-related genes, gt1 and Laba1/An-2, and interacts with three TOPLESS proteins to regulate the outgrowth of tiller buds. Our results support that maize tin1, derived from a standing variation in wild progenitor teosinte population, determines tillering retention during maize diversification.

• MeSH
• fenotyp MeSH
• genetické lokusy MeSH
• kukuřice setá genetika   růst a vývoj   metabolismus   MeSH
• lokus kvantitativního znaku MeSH
• regulace genové exprese u rostlin MeSH
• rostlinné geny genetika   MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• vývoj rostlin genetika   fyziologie   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• rostlinné proteiny MeSH