Reduced dosage of phytochrome F engages SELF-PRUNING6A to confer heat-resilient tuberization in potato.

Reducing phytochrome F dosage in cultivated potato enables heat-resilient tuberization by activating SELF-PRUNING 6A, even under heat-stress conditions that normally suppress tuber formation.

• Why it matters: Long days often coincide with warm nights that strongly suppress tuberization, and rising temperatures make it urgent to find genetic levers for forming tubers under heat.
• What they did: The study inactivated phyF and tested phyF knockdown and phyF/SP6A loss-of-function, then used haplotype-specific editing in the 5' UTR or exonic regions to create phyF haploinsufficiency.
• The result: phyF knockdown activates SP6A and facilitates tuber formation under heat stress, while editing that yields haploinsufficiency supports tuberization without other phytochrome-related penalties.

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