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Allelic variation in UVR8 modulates thermotolerance-yield tradeoffs in plants

Zeqi Li^1,2,† , Yi Zhang^1,† , Shiquan Li^1,† , Chengyi Qu¹ , Daren Luo¹ , Pei Ni⁴ , Yuan Zong⁴ , Xiaoxiao Li¹ , Tong Sun⁵ , Ruiqiang Ye⁵ , Rui Sun^6,7 , Yi Zhu^6,7 , Tiannan Guo^6,7 , Zeng Tao¹ , Lu Chen¹ , Kexing Su¹ , Yuanbin Zhang¹ , Wei Li¹ , Xiaobo Zhao¹ , Jie Dong¹ , Jian Zhang⁸ , Yuanyuan Tan¹ , Xianwen Zhang⁹ , Faming Dong¹⁰ , Lizhong Xiong¹⁰ , Xi Huang¹¹ , Jen Sheen¹² , Hao Du^1,3,*

¹State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
²College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang Wanli University, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China
³ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
⁴Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding (MOE), Key Laboratory of Crop Heterosis and Utilization (MOE), and Beijing Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China
⁵Key Laboratory of Plant Carbon Capture, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences (CEMPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
⁶Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Proteomics, School of Medicine, Westlake University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
⁷Westlake Center for Intelligent Proteomics, Westlake Laboratory of Life Sciences and Biomedicine, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
⁸State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology and Breeding, China National Rice Research Institute, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
⁹Institute of Virology and Biotechnology, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
¹⁰National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, Hubei, China
¹¹State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology, School of Life Sciences, Faculty of Medicine and Life Sciences, Xiamen Key Laboratory of Plant Genetics, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China
¹²Department of Molecular Biology and Centre for Computational and Integrative Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
^†These authors contributed equally: Zeqi Li, Yi Zhang, Shiquan Li
* Correspondence: Hao Du(du_hao@zju.edu.cn)

Industrial activities have driven stratospheric ozone depletion, increasing surface UV-B radiation while exacerbating global warming. These changes limit crop productivity, alter species distributions, and disrupt plant metabolic processes, but the mechanisms linking energy signaling to heat-stress responses remain unclear. Here, we identify the photoreceptor UV RESISTANCE LOCUS 8b (OsUVR8b) as a substrate of SNF1-related protein kinase 1 (SnRK1) in rice and reveal a natural variation at its SnRK1-mediated phosphorylation site (Ser177) that is correlated with adaptation to tropical climates. The thermotolerant OsUVR8bAla177 accessions show geographic enrichment in low-latitude regions with elevated temperatures. Functional validation through prime editing demonstrated that a Ser177-to-Ala177 substitution enhances heat tolerance, whereas the reverse edit compromises it. Mechanistically, OsUVR8bSer177 exhibits reduced stability and an impaired capacity for scavenging reactive oxygen species under heat stress. The regulatory function of the OsUVR8b Ser177 phosphorylation site, a molecular switch that governs UVR8 stability and thermotolerance, can be functionally re-established across rice, Arabidopsis, tobacco, and soybean, indicating its preservation during domestication. Notably, OsUVR8bSer177 maintains higher fertility and yield under non-stress conditions, indicating a tradeoff between heat adaptation and productivity. Our findings thus establish this switch as a key regulator of the yield-resilience balance and a promising target for breeding of climate-resilient crops.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-026-01253-5

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