Newfound rice gene shifts flowering by 1.5 hours to dodge heat damage

With El Niño-driven heat and prolonged dry spells threatening rice production, scientists from Japan's National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), other Japanese research institutions and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) have discovered a gene that helps rice "escape" heat during its most sensitive flowering stage. The gene, called EMF3 (Early Morning Flowering 3), shifts rice flowering to the early morning, when temperatures are cooler. By flowering earlier in the day, rice can avoid heat stress that would otherwise reduce grain formation and lower yields in tropical and subtropical regions. The research is published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal.