Evidence mapPaperPMID 41318547Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

Optimizing thiamine pyrophosphate metabolism enhances crop yield and quality.

Yun Luo, Yu Liu, Jie Liu, Xiaojing Liu, Huinan Li, Yu Wu, Junli Zhao, Yuebin Wang, Wenjie Fang, Liumei Jian and 5 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Achieving High-Density and Stress-Resilient Maize Breeding Via Germplasm Innovation.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Yun Luo *National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2732-5916
Yu Liu *National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0001-3851-4387
Jie LiuYazhouwan National Laboratory, Sanya, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1129-9584
Xiaojing LiuNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Huinan LiNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Yu WuHuanggang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Huanggang, Hubei, China.
Junli ZhaoHuanggang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Huanggang, Hubei, China.
Yuebin WangNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Wenjie FangNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Liumei JianNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Lin ZhuoNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Wenqiang LiNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1046-7902
Junpeng ZhanNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Alisdair R FernieDepartment of Root Biology and Symbiosis, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology, Potsdam-Golm, Germany.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9000-335X
Jianbing YanNational Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China. yjianbing@mail.hzau.edu.cn.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8650-7811

Funding

China Postdoctoral Science Foundation 2023M731239China Postdoctoral Science Foundation B20051National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 32301840National Natural Science Foundation of China (National Science Foundation of China) 32321005Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation) 2023AFB261
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Global food security requires sustainable strategies to improve crop yield and nutrition. Although thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), the active form of vitamin B1, plays a central role in energy metabolism, redox homeostasis, and carbon assimilation, its contribution to crop yield and quality remains largely unexplored. Here, we show that ZmTPK2, a thiamine pyrophosphokinase encoded by the major ear length QTL qKB6.2a, is a key regulator of maize yield. We reveal that ZmTPK2-dependent TPP homeostasis synchronizes three cornerstones of plant metabolism: mitochondrial tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle activity, chloroplast-mediated carbon fixation, and nitrogen utilization. Both overexpression and knockout of ZmTPK2 disrupt yield and grain quality, revealing that optimal TPP levels are required for productivity. Exogenous TPP supplementation increases grain yield in maize, rice, and rapeseed up to 9.8%. These findings identify TPP metabolism as a key regulatory pathway for metabolic engineering, biofortification, and global food security solutions.

Indexed as

Crops, AgriculturalThiamine PyrophosphateZea maysChloroplastsCitric Acid CycleGene Expression Regulation, PlantNitrogenOryzaPlant ProteinsPlants, Genetically ModifiedQuantitative Trait LociThiamin PyrophosphokinaseNitrogenPlant ProteinsThiamine PyrophosphateThiamin Pyrophosphokinase

Identifiers

PMID41318547
PMCPMC12779980

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.