Coordinated control for the auricle asymmetric development by ZmIDD14 and ZmIDD15 fine-tune the high-density planting adaption in maize.

Multiple distinct specialized regions shape the architecture of maize leaves. Among them, the fringe-like and wedge-shaped auricles alter the angle between the leaf and stalk, which is a key trait in crop plant architecture. As planting density increased, a small leaf angle (LA) was typically selected to promote crop light capture efficiency and yield.

Engineering the future cereal crops with big biological data: toward intelligence-driven breeding by design.

How to feed 10 billion human populations is one of the challenges that need to be addressed in the following decades, especially under an unpredicted climate change. Crop breeding, initiating from the phenotype-based selection by local farmers and developing into current biotechnology-based breeding, has played a critical role in securing the global food supply. However, regarding the changing environment and ever-increasing human population, can we breed outstanding crop varieties fast enough to achieve high productivity, good quality, and widespread adaptability? This review outlines the recent achievements in understanding cereal crop breeding, including the current knowledge about crop agronomic traits, newly developed techniques, crop big biological data research, and the possibility of integrating them for intelligence-driven breeding by design, which ushers in a new era of crop breeding practice and shapes the novel architecture of future crops.

ZmBET5L1 inhibits primary root growth and decreases osmotic stress tolerance by mediating vesicle aggregation and tethering in maize.

Improving osmotic stress tolerance is critical to help crops to thrive and maintain high yields in adverse environments. Here, we characterized a core subunit of the transport protein particle (TRAPP) complex, ZmBET5L1, in maize using knowledge-driven data mining and genome editing. We found that ZmBET5L1 can interact with TRAPP I complex subunits and act as a tethering factor to mediate vesicle aggregation and targeting from the endoplasmic reticulum to the Golgi apparatus.