# PPD-H1Improves Stress Resistance and Energy Metabolism to Boost Spike Fertility under High Ambient Temperatures
### Description
High ambient temperature (HT) impairs reproductive development and grain yield in temperate crops. To ensure reproductive success under HT, plants must maintain developmental stability. However, the mechanisms integrating plant development and temperature resilience are largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that PHOTOPERIOD 1 (PPD-H1), homologous to PSEUDO RESPONSE REGULATOR genes of the Arabidopsis circadian clock, controls developmental stability in response to HT in barley. We analyzed HT responses in independent introgression lines with either the ancestral wild-type Ppd-H1 allele or the natural ppd-h1 variant, selected in spring varieties to delay flowering and enhance yield under favourable conditions. HT delayed inflorescence development and reduced grain number in ppd-h1 mutant lines, while the wild-type Ppd-H1 genotypes accelerated reproductive development and showed a stable grain set under HT. Using a CRISPR/Cas9-induced ppd-h1 mutant, we confirmed that the CCT domain of Ppd-H1 controls developmental stability, but not clock gene expression. Transcriptome and phytohormone analyses in developing leaves and inflorescences revealed increased stress gene expression and abscisic acid levels in the leaf and inflorescence of the natural and induced mutant ppd-h1 lines. Furthermore, the mutant ppd-h1 lines downregulated photosynthesis-and energy metabolism-related genes, and reduced auxin and cytokinin levels in the inflorescence, which impaired anther and pollen development. By contrast, in the wild-type Ppd-H1 plants, the transcriptome and phytohormone levels and anther and pollen development remained stable under HT. Our findings suggest that Ppd-H1 enhances stress resistance and energy metabolism, thereby stabilizing reproductive development, floret fertility and grain set under HT.
| Tianyu Lan | tianyu.lan@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Agatha Walla | Walla@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences “SMART Plants for Tomorrow’s Needs”, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Kumsal Ecem Çolpan Karışan | kumsal.colpan@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences “SMART Plants for Tomorrow’s Needs”, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Gabriele Buchmann | gabriele.buchmann@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Vera Wewer | vwewer@uni-koeln.de | | CEPLAS Plant Metabolism and Metabolomics Facility, Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany; Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences “SMART Plants for Tomorrow’s Needs”, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Sabine Metzger | s.metzgar@uni-koeln.de | | CEPLAS Plant Metabolism and Metabolomics Facility, Institute for Plant Sciences, University of Cologne, 50674 Cologne, Germany; Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences “SMART Plants for Tomorrow’s Needs”, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Isaia Vardanega | isaia.vardanega@hhu.de | | Institute of Developmental Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Einar Baldvin Haraldsson | einar.haraldsson@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Gesa Helmsorig | gesa.helmsorig@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Venkatasubbu Thirulogachandar | thirulogachandar.venkatasubbu@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Rüdiger Simon | ruediger.simon@hhu.de | | Institute of Developmental Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences “SMART Plants for Tomorrow’s Needs”, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |
| Maria von Korff | maria.korff.schmissing@hhu.de | | Institute of Plant Genetics, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany; Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences “SMART Plants for Tomorrow’s Needs”, 40225 Düsseldorf, Germany | |