Tomato YABBY2b controls plant height through regulating indole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase (GH3.8) expression

Dwarfing is a desirable agronomic trait in cultivation management. Dwarf plants are lodging-resistant, compact, and perform well under high-density planting. The use of dwarf genetic resources is one approach to improve crop yield. YABBY2b in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) encodes a transcription factor that regulates plant height. In this study, we created YABBY2b knockout mutant lines, and the resulting yabby2b plants exhibited reduced height and smaller flowers and fruits. The RNA-seq analysis showed that 17 genes responding to gibberellin and auxin were differentially expressed. We hypothesized that indole-3-acetic acid-amido synthetase GH3.8 (GH3.8) played a crucial role in the resulting yabby2b dwarf phenotype. Further analysis showed that YABBY2b suppresses GH3.8 gene expression by directly binding to its promoter, and that this contributes to auxin-mediated repression of GH3.8. Moreover, the silencing of GH3.8 led to increased plant height. Combined, our data suggest that YABBY2b may positively regulate plant height in tomato by inhibiting the expression of growth suppressor GH3.8.