A novel Tos17 insertion upstream of Hd1 alters flowering time in rice

Heading date 1 (Hd1) is one of the major determinants of flowering time and regional adaptability in rice (Oryza sativa L.), because there is a significant correlation between Hd1 allelic diversity and phenotypic differences in rice cultivars. In this study, we isolated a novel rice mutant with a Tos17 retrotransposon insertion upstream of Hd1. The Tos17 insertion mutant of Hd1 [designated as Tos17(Hd1)] had decreased photoperiod sensitivity and mRNA expression of Hd1, as compared with wild-type Nipponbare. Between Tos17(Hd1) and Nipponbare, expression levels of OsPRR1 and OsGI were similar, whereas those of two florigen genes Hd3a and RFT1, were significantly different under both short and long-day conditions. Tos17(Hd1) showed photoperiod sensitivity intermediate between that of Nipponbare and a near-isogenic line having a non-functional allele of Hd1, indicating that Tos17(Hd1) has an attenuated but functional Hd1 allele. Our results revealed that allele mining of Hd1 may provide good opportunities to develop novel rice cultivars showing different levels of photoperiod sensitivity.