College of Agriculture, Yangtze University, China.
Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
J Plant Physiol. 2022 Aug;275:153763. doi: 10.1016/j.jplph.2022.153763. Epub 2022 Jul 6.
Apetala2/ethylene response factor (AP2/ERF) family of transcription factors plays important roles in plant development and stress responses. However, few members of this family have been functionally and mechanistically characterised in maize. In this study, we characterised a member of the AP2/ERF transcription factor family, ZmEREBP60 from maize. Amino acid sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis showed that ZmEREBP60 belongs to cluster I of the AP2/ERF family. qRT-PCR analysis indicated that ZmEREBP60 expression was highly induced by drought in the roots, coleoptiles, and leaves. Subcellular localisation analysis revealed that ZmEREBP60 was localised in the nucleus. Moreover, overexpression of ZmEREBP60 enhanced tolerance to drought stress while alleviating the drought-induced increase in HO accumulation and malondialdehyde content in transgenic lines. Transcriptome analysis showed that ZmEREBP60 regulates the expression of genes involved in HO catabolism, water deprivation response, and abscisic acid signalling pathway. Collectively, as a new member of the AP2/ERF transcription factor family in maize, ZmEREBP60 is a positive regulator of plant drought response.
AP2/乙烯响应因子（AP2/ERF）转录因子家族在植物发育和应激反应中发挥重要作用。然而，该家族的少数成员在玉米中已被功能和机制上进行了表征。在本研究中，我们对玉米 AP2/ERF 转录因子家族的一个成员 ZmEREBP60 进行了表征。氨基酸序列比对和系统发育分析表明，ZmEREBP60 属于 AP2/ERF 家族的 I 类。qRT-PCR 分析表明，ZmEREBP60 的表达在根部、胚芽鞘和叶片中受到干旱的强烈诱导。亚细胞定位分析表明 ZmEREBP60 定位于细胞核。此外，过表达 ZmEREBP60 增强了对干旱胁迫的耐受性，同时减轻了转基因株系中 HO 积累和丙二醛含量增加引起的干旱胁迫。转录组分析表明，ZmEREBP60 调节参与 HO 分解代谢、水分胁迫响应和脱落酸信号通路的基因的表达。总之，作为玉米 AP2/ERF 转录因子家族的一个新成员，ZmEREBP60 是植物抗旱反应的正调控因子。
