Conserved Regions Research Articles

Potential Geographic Range of the Endangered Reed Parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei under Climate Change.

The phenomenon of global climate change can impact the geographic range and biodiversity, thereby heightening the vulnerability of rare species to extinction. The reed parrotbill (Paradoxornis heudei David, 1872) is endemic to central and eastern China, it is mainly distributed in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Plain and the Northeast Plain. In this study, eight of ten algorithms of the species distribution model (SDM) were used to evaluate the impact of climate change on the potential distribution of P. heudei under current and future climate scenarios and to analyze the possible related climate factors. After checking the collected data, 97 occurrence records of P. heudei were used. The relative contribution rate shows that among the selected climatic variables, temperature annual range (bio7), annual precipitation (bio12), and isothermality (bio3) were the principal climatic factors to limit the habitat suitability of P. heudei. The suitable habitat for P. heudei is primarily concentrated in the central-eastern and northeast plains of China, particularly in the eastern coastal region, spanning a mere area of 57,841 km2. The habitat suitability of P. heudei under different representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios was predicted to be different under future climatic conditions, but all of them had a larger range than the current one. The species distribution range could expand by more than 100% on average compared with the current range under the four scenarios in 2050, while it could contract by approximately 30% on average relative to the 2050 range in 2070 under different climate change scenarios. In the future, northeastern China may serve as a potential suitable habitat for P. heudei. The changes in the spatial and temporal distributions of P. heudei's range are of utmost importance in identifying high-priority conservation regions and devising effective management strategies for its preservation.

Giant panda-focused conservation has limited value in maintaining biodiversity and carbon sequestration

Biodiversity and climate are interconnected through carbon. Drivers of climate change and biodiversity loss interact in complex ways to produce outcomes that may be synergistic, and biodiversity loss and climate change reinforce each other. Prioritizing the conservation of flagship and umbrella species is often used as a surrogate strategy for broader conservation goals, but it is unclear whether these efforts truly benefit biodiversity and carbon stocks. Conservation of the giant panda offers a paradigm to test these assumptions. Here, using the benchmark estimates of ecosystem carbon stocks and species richness, we investigated the relationships among the giant panda, biodiversity, and carbon stocks and assessed the implications of giant panda conservation for biodiversity and carbon-focused conservation efforts. We found that giant panda density and species richness were significantly positively correlated, while no correlation was found between giant panda density and soil carbon or total carbon density. The established nature reserves protect 26 % of the giant panda conservation region, but these areas contain <21 % of the ranges of other species and <21 % of total carbon stocks. More seriously, giant panda habitats are still facing high risks of habitat fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation is negatively correlated with giant panda density, species richness, and total carbon density. The ongoing giant panda habitat fragmentation is likely to cause an additional 12.24 Tg C of carbon emissions over 30 years. Thus, giant panda-focused conservation efforts have effectively prevented giant panda extinction but have been less effective in maintaining biodiversity and high‑carbon ecosystems. It is urgent for China to contribute to the development of an effective and representative national park system that integrates climate change issues into national biodiversity strategies and vice versa in dealing with the dual environmental challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change under a post-2020 framework.

Causal mechanisms for negative impacts of energy development inform management triggers for sagebrush birds

AbstractEstimated population trends can identify declining species to focus biological conservation, but monitoring may fail to illuminate causes of population change and strategies for reversing declines. Monitoring programs can relate trends with environmental attributes to test causal hypotheses, but typical analytical approaches do not explicitly support causal inference, diluting available data for informing conservation. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) extended Integrated Monitoring in Bird Conservation Regions with a quasi‐experimental sampling design over a 10‐year period (2010–2019) to evaluate the impacts of oil and gas development on sagebrush birds within the Atlantic Rim Natural Gas Field Development Project in southern Wyoming. We analyzed resulting data using a multiscale community occupancy model to estimate trends in species occupancy and richness relevant to management triggers. Additionally, we employed path analysis to evaluate mechanisms underlying observed trends to inform potential management responses. Fine‐scale occupancy for sage thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus) declined within the high‐development stratum at a rate sufficient to meet an a priori management trigger established by the BLM. Two additional sagebrush‐associated species, Brewer's (Spizella breweri) and sagebrush sparrow (Artemisiospiza nevadensis), exhibited negative development relationships with trend, as did overall species richness, and richness of grassland, sagebrush, and generalist guilds. We identified well pad density and invasive plants associated with energy development as causal factors contributing to these negative development impacts. We demonstrate an analytical approach for both estimating occupancy trends and identifying underlying causes to inform conservation action. Reducing the development footprint, including well pad density and associated invasive plants, could help reduce or limit impacts on birds within this landscape.

Prevalence and Homology of the Pneumococcal Serine-Rich Repeat Protein at the Global Scale.

Pneumococcal pneumonia remains a WHO high-priority disease despite multivalent conjugate vaccines administered in clinical practice worldwide. A protein-based, serotype-independent vaccine has long-promised comprehensive coverage of most clinical isolates of the pneumococcus. Along with numerous pneumococcal surface protein immunogens, the pneumococcal serine-rich repeat protein (PsrP) has been investigated as a potential vaccine target due to its surface exposure and functions toward bacterial virulence and lung infection. Three critical criteria for its vaccine potential - the clinical prevalence, serotype distribution, and sequence homology of PsrP - have yet to be well characterized. Here, we used genomes of 13,454 clinically isolated pneumococci from the Global Pneumococcal Sequencing project to investigate PsrP presence among isolates, distribution among serotypes, and interrogate its homology as a protein across species. These isolates represent all age groups, countries worldwide, and types of pneumococcal infection. We found PsrP present in at least 50% of all isolates across all determined serotypes and nontypeable (NT) clinical isolates. Using a combination of peptide matching and HMM profiles built on full-length and individual PsrP domains, we identified novel variants that expand PsrP diversity and prevalence. We also observed sequence variability in its basic region (BR) between isolates and serotypes. PsrP has a strong vaccine potential due to its breadth of coverage, especially in nonvaccine serotypes (NVTs) when exploiting its regions of conservation in vaccine design. IMPORTANCE An updated outlook on PsrP prevalence and serotype distribution sheds new light on the comprehensiveness of a PsrP-based protein vaccine. The protein is present in all vaccine serotypes and highly present in the next wave of potentially disease-causing serotypes not included in the current multivalent conjugate vaccines. Furthermore, PsrP is strongly correlated with clinical isolates harboring pneumococcal disease as opposed to pneumococcal carriage. PsrP is also highly present in strains and serotypes from Africa, where the need for a protein-based vaccine is the greatest, giving new reasoning to pursue PsrP as a protein vaccine.

Assumptions in theories of change

This paper argues that assumptions in a theory of change are the causal connections, events, and conditions that need to be realized for the intervention to work. Using an example of an intervention aimed at improving educational outcomes for girls in a conservative region, two kinds of assumptions are discussed: cause-effect assumptions and causal-link assumptions. Implications for the use of theories of change, including their use in setting causality and the utility of evidence in argument for learning about and testing assumptions are also discussed. The need for an explicit description of what is meant by the term ‘assumptions’ in association with a theory of change is also highlighted.

Activists of Faith, Betwixt and Between:

Recognizing the entangled nature of religion and public activism, this article proposes a new category for individuals operating at the intersections of activism and faith communities: activists of faith, an umbrella term for activists who work in secular activist spaces while also ascribing to particular religious traditions. I propose three categories for understanding these individuals: religious outliers, organizers of faith, and evangelical activists. Drawing from eight years of ethnographic fieldwork, I offer detailed examples of each type within Florida’s environmental movement in order to provide a robust understanding of faith-based ecological resistance in a religiously conservative region of the United States. Such activists go unnoticed as they belong to secular environmental groups, often without overt connections to their religious traditions. While their personal activism may set them at odds with conservative members of their religious communities, faith is a vital part of their work and quest for justice.

Evolutionary conservation of sequence motifs at sites of protein modification

Gene duplications are common in biology and are likely to be an important source of functional diversification and specialization. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae underwent a whole-genome duplication event early in evolution, and a substantial number of duplicated genes have been retained. We identified more than 3500 instances where only one of two paralogous proteins undergoes posttranslational modification despite having retained the same amino acid residue in both. We also developed a web-based search algorithm (CoSMoS.c.) that scores conservation of amino acid sequences based on 1011 wild and domesticated yeast isolates and used it to compare differentially modified pairs of paralogous proteins. We found that the most common modifications-phosphorylation, ubiquitylation, and acylation but not N-glycosylation-occur in regions of high sequence conservation. Such conservation is evident even for ubiquitylation and succinylation, where there is no established 'consensus site' for modification. Differences in phosphorylation were not associated with predicted secondary structure or solvent accessibility but did mirror known differences in kinase-substrate interactions. Thus, differences in posttranslational modification likely result from differences in adjoining amino acids and their interactions with modifying enzymes. By integrating data from large-scale proteomics and genomics analysis, in a system with such substantial genetic diversity, we obtained a more comprehensive understanding of the functional basis for genetic redundancies that have persisted for 100 million years.

Common Lyapunov Function Based Stability Analysis of VSC With Limits of Phase Locked Loop

The stability of the grid-connected voltge source converter (VSC) with limits of phase locked loop (PLL) is investigated in this letter. The studied system is a nonlinear switched system that consists of three subsystems and a switching rule that connects switching between these subsystems. It is proved that the three subsystems share one common Lyapunov function, and the derivation of the constructed Lyapunov function for each subsystem with respect to time is negative. As a result, one conservative stability region for the studied switched system is derived, and the system can be asymptotically stable under arbitrary switching within the derived stability region. Numerical results show that implementing limits of PLL is one simple and effective approach to enhance the system stability of VSCs.

Woody debris dominates the exports of carbon and nitrogen from headwater streams in an alpine forest

AbstractThe exports of carbon and nitrogen with water flowing in the headwater streams could be important components of material mitigation in forest ecosystems. Plant debris is a major source of dissolved organic matter for headwater streams, but few studies have investigated the differences between the impacts of woody debris and non‐woody debris inputs on headwater streams in terms of carbon and nitrogen exports. Here, we assessed the effects of plant debris (i.e., woody debris, non‐woody debris and mixed debris) on the concentrations and exports of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) in the headwater streams of an alpine forest on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Woody and non‐woody debris only weakly affected the DOC and TDN concentrations in the headwater streams. Compared with those in the reference stream excluding plant debris, woody debris increased the exports of DOC and TDN by 19% and 13%, whereas non‐woody debris decreased the exports of DOC and TDN by 22% and 25%, respectively. However, when fall approached, the role of non‐woody debris reversed to enhance the stream‐water exports of DOC and TDN. The effect of non‐woody debris during the fall season differed from that during the overall growing season, indicating that restricting non‐woody debris inputs might improve the ability of the stream to retain forest carbon and nitrogen. Notwithstanding the relatively limited experimental period, this work revealed the critical importance of plant debris for carbon and nutrients within water conservation regions like alpine forests.

A hidden cost of single species management: Habitat-relationships reveal potential negative effects of conifer removal on a non-target species

Land management priorities and decisions may result in population declines for non-target wildlife species. In the western United States, large-scale removal of conifer from sagebrush ecosystems (Artemisia spp.) is occurring to recover greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) populations and may result in pinyon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus) habitat loss. Jay populations have experienced long-term declines, due to unknown causes, resulting in a recent petition for listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. We developed a Bayesian hierarchical model of jay abundance, using 13 years of point count data (2008–2020) collected across the western United States, to estimate regional population trends, model habitat requirements, assess conifer removal effects on jays, and generate hypotheses regarding jay population declines. Our model included climate and landcover covariates and regional trends in pinyon jay density. We applied our modeled habitat relationships to map predicted pinyon jay density, given 2008 and 2020 resource conditions, and map density changes from 2008 to 2020. Our results indicate pinyon jay populations are declining within Bird Conservation Region 16. Jay density was positively associated with sagebrush cover, Palmer Drought Severity Index, and pinyon-juniper cover. Conversely, jay populations were negatively associated with Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). We found higher pinyon jay densities within locations possessing both sagebrush and pinyon-juniper cover; conditions characteristic of phase I and II conifer encroachment which are preferentially targeted for conifer removal to restore sagebrush communities. Conifer removal, if conducted at locations with high pinyon jay densities, is therefore likely to negatively affect jay abundance.

Genome-wide identification and characterization of the WOX gene family in Brassica juncea

The WUSCHEL related-homeobox (WOX) family is one of the plant-specific transcription factor families, playing important roles in plant growth and development. In this study, 51 WOX gene family members were identified from the genome data of Brassica juncea by searching and screening with HUMMER, Smart and other software. Their protein molecular weight, amino acids numbers, and isoelectric point were analyzed by using Expasy online software. Furthermore, bioinformatics software was used to systematically analyze the evolutionary relationship, conservative region, and gene structure of the WOX gene family. The mustard WOX gene family was divided into three subfamilies: ancient clade, intermediate clade, and WUS clade/modern clade. Structural analysis showed that the type, organization form and gene structure of the conservative domain of WOX transcription factor family members in the same subfamily were highly consistent, while there was a certain diversity among different subfamilies. 51 WOX genes are distributed unevenly on 18 chromosomes of mustard. Most of the promoters of these genes contain cis acting elements related to light, hormone and abiotic stress. Using transcriptome data and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis, it was found that the expression of mustard WOX gene was spatio-temporal specific, among which BjuWOX25, BjuWOX33, and BjuWOX49 might play an important role in the development of silique, and BjuWOX10, BjuWOX32, and BjuWOX11, BjuWOX23 respectively might play an important role in the response to drought and high temperature stresses. The above results may facilitate the functional study of mustard WOX gene family.

Random Forest Classification of Multitemporal Landsat 8 Spectral Data and Phenology Metrics for Land Cover Mapping in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts

Geospatial data and tools evolve as new technologies are developed and landscape change occurs over time. As a result, these data may become outdated and inadequate for supporting critical habitat-related work across the international boundary in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts Bird Conservation Region (BCR 33) due to the area’s complex vegetation communities and the discontinuity in data availability across the United States (US) and Mexico (MX) border. This research aimed to produce the first 30 m continuous land cover map of BCR 33 by prototyping new methods for desert vegetation classification using the Random Forest (RF) machine learning (ML) method. The developed RF classification model utilized multitemporal Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager spectral and vegetation index data from the period of 2013–2020, and phenology metrics tailored to capture the unique growing seasons of desert vegetation. Our RF model achieved an overall classification F-score of 0.80 and an overall accuracy of 91.68%. Our results portrayed the vegetation cover at a much finer resolution than existing land cover maps from the US and MX portions of the study area, allowing for the separation and identification of smaller habitat pockets, including riparian communities, which are critically important for desert wildlife and are often misclassified or nonexistent in current maps. This early prototyping effort serves as a proof of concept for the ML and data fusion methods that will be used to generate the final high-resolution land cover map of the entire BCR 33 region.

Однодоменное антитело для связывания консервативного эпитопа рецептор-связывающего домена белка Spike коронавируса SARS-CoV-2

Several COVID-19 vaccines have been developed in the last three years using various tecnhiques. Multiple virus-neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 have been also obtained to combat the pandemic. However, the use of these medications for prevention and potential treatment faces significant challenges due to the emergence of new mutant virus variants, both more contagious and escaping neutralization by the immune system, that is why it is necessary to continuously renew the vaccines and develop new therapeutic antibodies. The study was aimed to use the technology of generating single-domain antibodies (nanobodies) to target the surface spike (S) protein RBD conserved epitope of the broad spectrum of SARS-CoV-2 variants. Recombinant proteins that corresponded to RBDs of three important SARS-СoV-2 strains and the full-length S protein (Wuhan) were used as antigens for immunization of a camel in order to induce production of appropriate antibodies and/or as immobilized proteins for further cross selection of the nanobody clones with pre-set specificity by the phage display. A nanobody capable of effectively recognizing the conservative region in the S protein RBDs of the broad spectrum of pandemic SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Omicron, was selected from the generated immune library. Along with conventional use in immunoassays and diagnosis, the generated nanobody can be potentially used as a module for target-specific binding used to trap coronavirus in human upper airways during the development of novel combination antiviral drugs.

Selection of IS6110 conserved regions for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using qPCR and LAMP.

IS6110 insertion sequence is a frequently used target for Mycobacterium tuberculosis detection. However, its sequence variability is studied insufficiently. We aimed to identify the most conservative and variable regions in IS6110 sequences and develop qPCR and LAMP oligonucleotide sets for the conservative regions. Using in-house Python scripts, 3609M. tuberculosis genome sequences from the NCBI database were aligned; conservative regions were identified to design oligonucleotide sets. IS6110 fragments located within the 31-231bp region were the most conservative and represented in genomes and were used to design qPCR and LAMP oligonucleotides. The in silico sensitivity of the qPCR oligonucleotides on the whole genome set was 99.1% and 98.4%. For the LAMP primers developed, the sensitivity was 96.9%. For qPCR, the limit of detection with 95% confidence (LoD95%) was four IS6110 copies per reaction, with LoD90% being 200 BCG cells per ml of artificial sputum. For LAMP, LoD95% was 16 copies per reaction, with LoD90% being 400 Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) cells per ml of artificial sputum. We have demonstrated the IS6110 sequence variability and designed highly sensitive qPCR and LAMP oligonucleotides to detect M. tuberculosis.

Crystal Structure Analysis of Sarcoplasmic-Calcium-Binding Protein: An Allergen in Scylla paramamosain.

The structure of allergenic proteins provides important information about the binding of allergens to antibodies. In this study, the crystal structure of Scy p 4 with a resolution of 1.60 Å was obtained by X-ray diffraction. Epitope mapping of Scy p 4 revealed that linear epitopes are located on the surface of Scy p 4. Also, conformational epitopes are mostly located in the structural conservative region. Further structural comparison, surface electrostatic potential, and hydrogen bond force analysis showed that mutation of Asp70 and Asp18/20/70 would lead to calcium-binding capacity being lost and destruction of allergenicity. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of structure showed that sarcoplasmic-calcium-binding protein (SCP) had high sequence, secondary, and spatial structural identity in crustaceans, which may be an important factor leading to cross-reactivity among crustaceans. The structure of Scy p 4 provides a template for epitope evaluation and localization of SCPs, which will help to reveal cross-reactivity among species.

Robust Stability of Grid-Connected Voltage Source Converter with Phase-Locked Loop

The robust stability of one single voltage source converter (VSC) connected to a bus via the line is studied in this letter. Considering arbitrary bounded perturbations from uncertainties, the perturbed system model is firstly proposed. Then, one switched system is constructed to investigate the stability of the perturbed system, and it is proved that the stability region of the switched system is the subset of that of the perturbed system. Finally, the stability region of the switched system is obtained by the inverse-time (backwards) integration starting from the unstable equilibrium point, which is also the conservative stability region of the perturbed system.

The T-RFLP research method in the study of rumen microbiota in dairy cows with subclinical ketosis

The article presents the results of researches related to the study of the possibility of using the modern molecular genetics method -T-RFLP-analysis (terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism) to identify the community of microorganisms in the contents of the rumen in clinically healthy highly productive cows and cows with subclinical ketosis. The research methodology is based on the analysis of the conservative regions in the microorganisms’ genome variability. The results showed the high efficiency of the method used for the identification of microorganisms in the rumen contents in the studied animals. A large community of bacteria, archaea, protozoa and anaerobic fungi is determined in the rumen contents from highly productive cows with subclinical ketosis. The data obtained allow us to significantly amplify the information on the pathogenesis of subclinical ketosis in cows with high milk productivity. The presence of conditionally pathogenic and pathogenic microflora in sick cows in the rumen contents indicates a violation of rumen digestion, which leads to the development of concomitant non-contagious diseases in animals.

Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of TCP Gene Family Members in Melastoma candidum.

It has been confirmed that the plant-specific Teosinte-branched 1/Cycloidea/Proliferating (TCP) gene family plays a pivotal role during plant growth and development. M. candidum is a native ornamental species and has a wide range of pharmacodynamic effects. However, there is still a lack of research on TCP’s role in controlling M. candidum’s development, abiotic stress responses and hormone metabolism. A comprehensive description of the TCP gene family in M. candidum is urgently needed. In this study, we used the HMMER search method in conjunction with the BLASTp method to identify the members of the TCP gene family, and a total of 35 TCP genes were identified. A domain analysis further confirmed that all 35 TCPs contained a TCP superfamily, a characteristic involved in dimerization and DNA binding that can be found in most genes from this gene family, suggesting that our identification was effective. As a result of the domain conservation analysis, the 35 TCP genes could be classified into two classes, TCP-P and TCP-C, based on the conservative regions of 55 and 59 amino acids, respectively. Gene-duplication analysis revealed that most TCP genes were present in duplication events that eventually led to TCP gene expansion in M. candidum. All the detected gene pairs had a Ka/Ks value of less than one, suggesting that purification selection is the most important factor that influences the evolution of TCP genes. Phylogenetic analysis of three species displayed the evolutionary relationship of TCP genes across different species and further confirmed our results. The real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) results showed that McTCP2a, McTCP7a, McTCP10, McTCP11, McTCP12a, McTCP13, McTCP16, McTCP17, McTCP18, McTCP20 and McTCP21 may be involved in leaf development; McTCP4a, McTCP1, McTCP14, McTCP17, McTCP18, McTCP20, McTCP22 and McTCP24 may be involved in flower development; and McTCP2a, McTCP3, McTCP5a, McTCP6, McTCP7a, McTCP9, McTCP11, McTCP14 and McTCP16 may be involved in seed development. Our results dissect the TCP gene family across the genome of M. candidum and provide valuable information for exploring TCP genes to promote molecular breeding and property improvement of M. candidum in the future.

Nanomolar biosensor for detection of phenylacetic acid and L-phenylalanine

Phenylacetic acid (PAA) plays an important role in the plant hormone biology, possess a substantial antimicrobial activity and widely used building block for several pharmaceutical drugs. Technological advancement for PAA and other small molecule investigation in vivo can help to yield interesting insights into their involvement in biological processes. Transcription factor-based whole-cell biosensors have recently become useful analytical tools for detection and monitoring of various molecules. Compared to conventional analytical methods, the whole-cell biosensor offers cost-effective, rapid and high-throughput solution. In this paper, we identify and characterize PAA-inducible gene expression system CnPaaX/PpaaA2 from Cupriavidus necator H16. Nucleotide sequence analysis and mutagenesis reveal a conservative region with palindromic sequence motifs upstream to paaA2, which are likely used for PaaX-mediated transcriptional regulation. Using inducible system CnPaaX/PpaaA2 we develop C. necator-based whole-cell biosensor that exhibits a dose-dependent response to the exogenous PAA. Moreover, the biosensor is highly specific to the PAA compared to naturally occurring hydroxylated forms of this compound. Importantly, it exhibits a limit of measurement as low as 9.54 nM demonstrating the highest level of sensitivity reported so far. By combining genetic elements of PAA-inducible system with phenylpyruvate decarboxylase gene ipdC, we develop biosensor suitable for determining of L-phenylalanine.

CRISPR/Cas9-induced modification of the conservative promoter region of VRN-A1 alters the heading time of hexaploid bread wheat.

In cereals, the vernalization-related gene network plays an important role in regulating the transition from the vegetative to the reproductive phase to ensure optimal reproduction in a temperate climate. In hexaploid bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), the spring growth habit is associated with the presence of at least one dominant locus of VERNALIZATION 1 gene (VRN-1), which usually differs from recessive alleles due to mutations in the regulatory sequences of the promoter or/and the first intron. VRN-1 gene is a key regulator of floral initiation; various combinations of dominant and recessive alleles, especially VRN-A1 homeologs, determine the differences in the timing of wheat heading/flowering. In the present study, we attempt to expand the types of VRN-A1 alleles using CRISPR/Cas9 targeted modification of the promoter sequence. Several mono- and biallelic changes were achieved within the 125-117 bp upstream sequence of the start codon of the recessive vrn-A1 gene in plants of semi-winter cv. 'Chinese Spring'. New mutations stably inherited in subsequent progenies and transgene-free homozygous plants carrying novel VRN-A1 variants were generated. Minor changes in the promoter sequence, such as 1-4 nucleotide insertions/deletions, had no effect on the heading time of plants, whereas the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated 8 bp deletion between -125 and -117 bp of the vrn-A1 promoter shortened the time of head emergence by up to 2-3 days. Such a growth habit was consistently observed in homozygous mutant plants under nonvernalized cultivation using different long day regimes (16, 18, or 22h), whereas the cold treatment (from two weeks and more) completely leveled the effect of the 8 bp deletion. Importantly, comparison with wild-type plants showed that the implemented alteration has no negative effects on main yield characteristics. Our results demonstrate the potential to manipulate the heading time of wheat through targeted editing of the VRN-A1 gene promoter sequence on an otherwise unchanged genetic background.