Beating the blues: engineering cryptochrome expression improves soybean yield

Abstract

Phytochrome A overexpression can increase harvest index, as was shown 25 years ago in a breakthrough paper on tobacco (Robson et al., 1996). The impact of this important discovery has, however, not been fully developed. Plants at high densities often respond strongly to nearby competitors by strong elongation of their internodes and upward bending of their leaves, i.e., shade avoidance. This is crucial for plants to ascertain access to sunlight, and this navigation through vegetation occurs through light cues that are sensed with various photoreceptors.