During domestication, early farmers selected different vegetative and reproductive traits, but identifying the causative loci has been hampered by their epistasis and functional redundancy. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing combined with genome-wide association analysis, we uncovered a developmental regulator that controls both types of trait while acting upstream of multiple domestication loci. tasselsheath4 (tsh4) is a new maize domestication gene that establishes developmental boundaries and specifies meristem fates despite not being expressed within them. TSH4 accomplishes this by using a double-negative feedback loop that targets and represses the very same microRNAs that negatively regulate it. TSH4 functions redundantly with a pair of homologs to positively regulate a suite of domestication loci while specifying the meristem that doubled seed yield in modern maize. TSH4 has a critical role in yield gain and helped generate ideal crop plant architecture, thus explaining why it was a major domestication target.

在驯化过程中，早期农民选择了不同的营养和繁殖性状，但确定致病基因座受到其上位性和功能冗余的阻碍。使用染色质免疫沉淀测序结合全基因组关联分析，我们发现了一种发育调节因子，它控制两种类型的性状，同时作用于多个驯化位点的上游。Tasselsheath4 （TSH4） 是一种新的玉米驯化基因，尽管在其中未表达，但它可以建立发育边界并指定分生组织命运。TSH4 通过使用双负反馈回路来实现这一点，该回路靶向并抑制与其负向调节相同的 microRNA。TSH4 与一对同源物冗余地发挥作用，以正向调节一组驯化位点，同时指定使现代玉米种子产量翻倍的分生组织。TSH4 在产量增加中起关键作用，有助于产生理想的作物植物结构，从而解释了为什么它是主要的驯化靶标。