Horizontally acquired CSP genes contribute to wheat adaptation and improvement

Although horizontal gene transfer (HGT) often facilitates environmental adaptation of recipient organisms, whether and how they might affect crop evolution and domestication is unclear. Here we show that three genes encoding cold-shock proteins (CSPs) were transferred from bacteria to Triticeae, a tribe of the grass family that includes several major staple crops such as wheat, barley and rye. The acquired CSP genes in wheat (TaCSPs) are functionally conserved in their bacterial homologues by encoding a nucleic acid-binding protein. Experimental evidence indicates that TaCSP genes positively regulate drought response and improve photosynthetic efficiency under water-deficient conditions by directly targeting a type 1 metallothionein gene to increase reactive oxygen species scavenging, which in turn contributed to the geographic expansion of wheat. We identified an elite CSP haplotype in Aegilops tauschii, introduction of which to wheat significantly increased drought tolerance, photosynthetic efficiency and grain yields. These findings not only provide major insights into the role of HGT in crop adaptation and domestication, but also demonstrate that novel microbial genes introduced through HGT offer a stable and naturally optimized resource for transgenic crop breeding and improvement.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Plants
Published
2025-03-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-025-01952-8
Citations
11
Primary Topic
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.49

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article

Horizontally acquired CSP genes contribute to wheat adaptation and improvement

Xiaoyu Zeng, Jinling Huang, Tiantian Bu, Yusheng Zhao et al.
11 citations
Nature Plants
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
10.49
article

Horizontally acquired CSP genes contribute to wheat adaptation and improvement

Xiaoyu Zeng, Jinling Huang, Tiantian Bu, Yusheng Zhao, Xiaomin Si, Ru‐Feng Song, Xiaolong Qiu, Shenglong Bai, Junrong Li, Wenyao Xu, Yun Zhou, Guanghui Guo, Cuicui Yang, Hao Li, Fang Zhang, Wei Wang, Zheng Li, Zeyu Xing, Kai Wang, Jinjin Wang, Jingyao Li, Wen‐Cheng Liu, Jianchao Ma, Chun‐Peng Song, Tiantian He, Jingge Liang, Y. Li, Qian Liu, Huihui Liang, Zhen Zhang
article en
11 citations

Abstract

Although horizontal gene transfer (HGT) often facilitates environmental adaptation of recipient organisms, whether and how they might affect crop evolution and domestication is unclear. Here we show that three genes encoding cold-shock proteins (CSPs) were transferred from bacteria to Triticeae, a tribe of the grass family that includes several major staple crops such as wheat, barley and rye. The acquired CSP genes in wheat (TaCSPs) are functionally conserved in their bacterial homologues by encoding a nucleic acid-binding protein. Experimental evidence indicates that TaCSP genes positively regulate drought response and improve photosynthetic efficiency under water-deficient conditions by directly targeting a type 1 metallothionein gene to increase reactive oxygen species scavenging, which in turn contributed to the geographic expansion of wheat. We identified an elite CSP haplotype in Aegilops tauschii, introduction of which to wheat significantly increased drought tolerance, photosynthetic efficiency and grain yields. These findings not only provide major insights into the role of HGT in crop adaptation and domestication, but also demonstrate that novel microbial genes introduced through HGT offer a stable and naturally optimized resource for transgenic crop breeding and improvement.

Nature PlantsVol. 11(4)
Henan University (CN), East Carolina University (US), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
10.49
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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