The wheat MYB‐related transcription factor TaMYB72 promotes flowering in rice

Through large-scale transformation analyses, Ta MYB72 was identified as a flowering time regulator in wheat. Ta MYB72 is a MYB family transcription factor localized to the nucleus. Three Ta MYB72 homologs,Ta MYB72-A, Ta MYB72-B and Ta MYB72-D, cloned from hexaploid wheat were mapped to the short arm of the group 6 chromosomes. Under the long-day conditions,over-expression of the Ta MYB72 in rice shortened the flowering time by approximately 12 d. Expression analyses suggest that Ta MYB72 may function through upregulation of florigen genes Hd3 a and RFT1.