Natural Variation of OsHd8 Regulates Heading Date in Rice

Heading date, as one of the most important agronomic traits, is a fundamental factor determining crop yield. Although diverse genes related to heading date have already been reported in rice, key gene that regulates still poorly understood. Here, we identified regulator, 8 (OsHd8), which promoted under long-day conditions and encoded putative HAP3 subunit CCAAT-box-binding transcription factor. It localized nucleus expressed various tissues. Sequence analysis revealed there were four SNPs InDel promoter region OsHd8, was involved regulation some floral regulators including GHD7.1, SDG718, OsGI HDT1. Further evolutionary showed OsHd8 presents divergence between indica japonica, showing natural selection during domestication cultivated rice. These results indicate plays an role may be target for rice breeding programs.