RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 FT/FD-GRF5 repression loop directs growth to increase soybean yield JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 437053 DO 10.1101/437053 A1 Kun Xu A1 Xiao-Mei Zhang A1 Guolong Yu A1 Mingyang Lu A1 Chunyan Liu A1 Haifeng Chen A1 Jinlong Zhu A1 Fulu Chen A1 Zhiyuan Cheng A1 Penghui Huang A1 Xinan Zhou A1 Qingshan Chen A1 Xianzhong Feng A1 Yuchen Miao A1 Liangyu Liu A1 Iain Searle A1 Yong-Fu Fu YR 2018 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/10/07/437053.abstract AB Major advances in crop yield are eternally needed to cope with population growth. To balance vegetative and reproductive growth plays an important role in agricultural yield. To extend vegetative phase can increase crop yield, however, this strategy risks loss of yield in the field as crops may not mature in time before winter come. Here, we identified a repression feedback loop between GmFTL/GmFDL and GmGRF5-1 (Glycine-max-Flowering-Locus-T/Glycine-max-FDL and Glycine-max-GROWTH-REGULATING-FACTOR5-1), which functions as a pivotal regulator in balancing vegetative and reproductive phases in soybean. GmFTL/GmFDL and GmGRF5-1 directly repress gene expression each other. Additionally, GmGRF5-1 enhances vegetative growth by directly enhancing expression of photosynthesis- and auxin synthesis-related genes. To modulate the loop, such as fine-tuning GmFTL expression to trade-off vegetative and reproductive growth, increases substantially soybean yield in the field. Our findings not only uncover the mechanism balancing vegetative and reproductive growth, but open a new window to improve crop yield.