miR156-Targeted SBP-Box Transcription Factors Interact with DWARF53 to Regulate TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 and BARREN STALK1 Expression in Bread Wheat

Genetic and environmental factors affect bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) plant architecture, which determines grain yield. In this study, we demonstrate that miR156 controls bread wheat plant architecture. We show that overexpression of tae-miR156 in bread wheat cultivar Kenong199 leads to increased tiller number and severe defects in spikelet formation, probably due to the tae-miR156-mediated repression of a group of SQUAMOSA PROMOTER BINDING PROTEIN-LIKE (SPL) genes. Furthermore, we found that the expression of two genes TEOSINTE BRANCHED1 (TaTB1) and BARREN STALK1 (TaBA1), whose orthologous genes in diverse plant species play conserved roles in regulating plant architecture, is markedly reduced in the tae-miR156-OE bread wheat plants. Significantly, we demonstrate that the strigolactone (SL) signaling repressor DWARF53 (TaD53), which physically associates with the transcriptional corepressor TOPLESS, can directly interact with the N-terminal domains of miR156-controlled TaSPL3/17. Most importantly, TaSPL3/17-mediated transcriptional activation of TaBA1 and TaTB1 can be largely repressed by TaD53 in the transient expression system. Our results reveal potential association between miR156-TaSPLs and SL signaling pathways during bread wheat tillering and spikelet development.