Cloning and functional characterization of Rht8, a “Green Revolution” replacement gene in wheat

Abstract

Wheat (Triticum aestivum) is a major staple crop in the world and provides ∼20% of the food calories for human consumption (Appels et al., 2018). During the 1960s and 1970s, the introduction of two semi-dwarfing genes Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b in wheat varieties strikingly improved lodging resistance and harvest index, and therefore substantially increased grain yield, resulting in the well-known “Green Revolution” (Peng et al., 1999). However, plants carrying Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b suffer from several drawbacks, such as reduced coleoptile length and weak seedling vigor, which limit their cultivation in warm and dry environments (Rebetzke et al., 1999).