Exogenous GA3 Application Can Compensate the Morphogenetic Effects of the GA-Responsive Dwarfing Gene Rht12 in Bread Wheat

The most common dwarfing genes in wheat, Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b, classified as gibberellin-insensitive (GAI) dwarfing genes due to their reduced response to exogenous GA, have been verified as encoding negative regulators of gibberellin signaling. In contrast, the response of gibberellin-responsive (GAR) dwarfing genes, such as Rht12, to exogenous GA is still unclear and the role of them, if any, in GA biosynthesis or signaling is unknown. The responses of Rht12 to exogenous GA(3) were investigated on seedling vigour, spike phenological development, plant height and other agronomic traits, using F(2∶3) and F(3∶4) lines derived from a cross between Ningchun45 and Karcagi-12 in three experiments. The application of exogenous GA(3) significantly increased coleoptile length and seedling leaf 1 length and area. While there was no significant difference between the dwarf and the tall lines at the seedling stage in the responsiveness to GA(3), plant height was significantly increased, by 41 cm (53%) averaged across the three experiments, in the GA(3)-treated Rht12 dwarf lines. Plant height of the tall lines was not affected significantly by GA(3) treatment (<10 cm increased). Plant biomass and seed size of the GA(3)-treated dwarf lines was significantly increased compared with untreated dwarf plants while there was no such difference in the tall lines. GA(3)-treated Rht12 dwarf plants with the dominant Vrn-B1 developed faster than untreated plants and reached double ridge stage 57 days, 11 days and 50 days earlier and finally flowered earlier by almost 7 days while the GA(3)-treated tall lines flowering only 1–2 days earlier than the untreated tall lines. Thus, it is clear that exogenous GA(3) can break the masking effect of Rht12 on Vrn-B1 and also restore other characters of Rht12 to normal. It suggested that Rht12 mutants may be deficient in GA biosynthesis rather than in GA signal transduction like the GA-insensitive dwarfs.