Suppressing a phosphohydrolase of cytokinin nucleotide enhances grain yield in rice.

One-step and two-step pathways are proposed to synthesize cytokinin in plants. The one-step pathway is mediated by LONELY GUY (LOG) proteins. However, the enzyme for the two-step pathway remains to be identified.

Fixation of hybrid sterility genes and favorable alleles of key yield-related genes with dominance contribute to the high yield of the Yongyou series of intersubspecific hybrid rice.

In rice, the Yongyou series of Xian-Geng intersubspecific hybrids have excellent production performance, as shown by their extremely high yield. However, the mechanisms underlying the success of these rice hybrids are unclear. In this study, three F populations are generated from three Yongyou hybrids to determine the genetic basis of the extremely high yield of intersubspecific hybrids.