Semi-dwarf 1 (sd1) gene enhances light penetration into the canopy through regulating leaf inclination angle in rice

•The sd1 gene has a function to keep leaf erectness during ripening.•A NIL carrying sd1 resulted in a smaller canopy extinction coefficient.•The leaf treated with a gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis inhibitor kept erectness.•GA enhanced cell elongation on the adaxial side of lamina joint and inclined leaf.•The GA regulation of the leaf inclination may not be mediated by brassinolide. Manipulating leaf inclination angle is a feasible approach to improve canopy photosynthesis and dry matter production in rice (Oryza sativa) via enhancing light penetration into the canopy. The importance of the semi-dwarf 1 (sd1) gene, a loss-of-function allele of SD1 encoding GA-20 oxidase-2 in gibberellin (GA) biosynthesis, in rice yield through improving lodging resistance is well known. However, little is known about the effects of sd1 as well as GA on leaf inclination angle. A near-isogenic line carrying the ‘Takanari’ sd1 allele in the ‘Koshihikari’ genetic background (NIL-sd1) had leaves with larger (more erect) leaf inclination angle and showed a smaller canopy extinction coefficient at the ripening stage than did ‘Koshihikari’. Furthermore, the leaf inclination angle of ‘Reimei’, an sd1 mutant in the ‘Fujiminori’ background, and of several other sd1 mutants in ‘Koshihikari’ background, was larger at the ripening stage than in parental lines, ‘Fujiminori’ and ‘Koshihikari’, respectively. The flag leaves of ‘Koshihikari’ plants treated with a GA biosynthesis inhibitor, paclobutrazol (PBZ), displayed a larger leaf inclination angle than did those of mock-treated plants during ripening. Treatment at the lamina joint of a flag leaf with exogenous GA3 or brassinolide (BL) significantly decreased leaf inclination angle. BL treatment increased the thickness of lamina joint tissue and the longitudinal cell length on the adaxial side of the marginal region of lamina joint, whereas GA3 treatment only increased the longitudinal cell length. NIL-sd1 had a lamina joint with decreased longitudinal adaxial cell length, but no difference in abaxial cell length nor tissue thickness in lamina joint cross section compared with that of ‘Koshihikari’. Thus, sd1 regulates the leaf inclination angle via a GA-based mechanism but not via BL involved in the crosstalk with GA.