A domestication-associated gene, CsLH, encodes a phytochrome B protein that regulates hypocotyl elongation in cucumber

Abstract

Plant height is an important agronomic trait; tall plants are prone to collapse (lodging) and are unsuitable for high-density planting (Li et al., 2020). During the Green Revolution, a multitude of genes acting as core or peripheral regulators of plant height were identified and used in breeding (Eshed and Lippman, 2019); however, most were reported in cereal crop plants (Eshed and Lippman, 2019) and few have been characterized in the Cucurbitaceae, which are economically important horticultural plants cultivated worldwide. Here, we describe LONG HYPOCOTYL (CsLH), encoding the photoreceptor phytochrome B (PHYB), which we show has been subjected to selection during cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) domestication.