Loss of function of gene cause early flowering in rice under short-day conditions.

Unlabelled: Heading date is one of the important agronomic traits that affects rice yield. In this study, we cloned a new rice B3 family gene, , which regulates rice heading date. Importantly, and , two different types of mutants of were created using the gene editing technology CRISPR/Cas9 system and exhibited 4 days earlier heading date than that of the wild type under short-day conditions. Subsequently, the plants overexpressing , OE-OsL1, showed a 2-day later heading date than the wild type in Changsha and a 5-day later heading date in Lingshui, but there was no significant difference in other yield traits. Moreover, the results of subcellular localization study indicated that OsL1 protein was located in the nucleus and the expression pattern analysis showed that gene was expressed in rice roots, stems, leaves, and panicles, and the expression level was higher at the root and weak green panicle. In addition, the gene was mainly expressed at night time under short-light conditions. The transcriptomic analysis indicated that might be involved in the pathway function. Together, our results revealed that the cloning and functional analysis of can provide new strategy for molecular design breeding of rice with suitable fertility period.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-024-01444-1.