Maize ZmWRKY28: a target to regulate shade avoidance response under high planting density

This article comments on: Zhang Z, Chen L, Yu J. 2023. Maize WRKY28 interacts with the DELLA protein D8 to affect skotomorphogenesis and participates in the regulation of shade avoidance and plant architecture. Journal of Experimental Botany74, 3122-3141. To feed the global population sufficiently from a small number of edible crops grown on limited arable lands, dense planting is required. However, high-density planting often induces the shade avoidance response (SAR), which is a limiting factor for yield. Plants undergo vegetative and reproductive changes to adapt to the varying amount and quality of incident light. These complex processes are delicately managed through signal transduction and regulatory systems comprising, but not limited to, receptors and transporters, hormones and specialized metabolites, and transcription factors (TFs). have identified such a key regulatory element of the maize (Zea mays) SAR, ZmWRKY28, and explored its light-depended pathway regulation. They introduced a potential new target for maize yield improvement.