A Maize Gene Confers Aluminum Tolerance Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging.

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is the primary limiting factor that affects crop yields in acid soil. However, the genes that contribute to the Al tolerance process in maize are still poorly understood. Previous studies have predicted that ZmAT6 is a novel protein which could be upregulated under Al stress condition. Here, we found that is expressed in many tissues and organs and can be dramatically induced by Al in both the roots and shoots but particularly in the shoots. The overexpression of in maize and plants increased their root growth and reduced the accumulation of Al, suggesting the contribution of to Al tolerance. Moreover, the transgenic maize plants had lower contents of malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species (ROS), but much higher proline content and even lower Evans blue absorption in the roots compared with the wild type. Furthermore, the activity of several enzymes of the antioxidant system, such as peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX), increased in transgenic maize plants, particularly SOD. Consistently, the expression of in transgenic maize was predominant upregulated by Al stress. Taken together, these findings revealed that could at least partially confer enhanced tolerance to Al toxicity by scavenging ROS in maize.