Tian Ran, Xie Sidi, Zhang Junjie, Liu Hanmei, Li Yangping, Hu Yufeng, Huang Yubi, Liu Yinghong
State Key Laboratory of Crop Gene Exploration and Utilization in Southwest China, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China.
College of Life Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an 625014, China.
Plants (Basel). 2023 Oct 21;12(20):3639. doi: 10.3390/plants12203639.
The MOR (Morphogenesis-related NDR kinase) signaling network, initially identified in yeast, exhibits evolutionary conservation across eukaryotes and plays indispensable roles in the normal growth and development of these organisms. However, the functional role of this network and its associated genes in maize () has remained elusive until now. In this study, we identified a total of 19 maize MOR signaling network genes, and subsequent co-expression analysis revealed that 12 of these genes exhibited stronger associations with each other, suggesting their potential collective regulation of maize growth and development. Further analysis revealed significant co-expression between genes involved in the MOR signaling network and several genes related to cold tolerance. All MOR signaling network genes exhibited significant co-expression with (), a pivotal gene involved in the perception of cold stimuli, suggesting that COLD1 may directly transmit cold stress signals to MOR signaling network genes subsequent to the detection of a cold stimulus. The findings indicated that the MOR signaling network may play a crucial role in modulating cold tolerance in maize by establishing an intricate relationship with key cold tolerance genes, such as . Under low-temperature stress, the expression levels of certain MOR signaling network genes were influenced, with a significant up-regulation observed in and a notable down-regulation observed in , indicating that cold stress regulated the MOR signaling network. We identified and analyzed a mutant of , which showed a higher sensitivity to cold stress, thereby implicating its involvement in the regulation of cold stress in maize. These findings suggested that the relevant components of the MOR signaling network are also conserved in maize and this signaling network plays a vital role in modulating the cold tolerance of maize. This study offered valuable genetic resources for enhancing the cold tolerance of maize.
MOR（形态发生相关的NDR激酶）信号网络最初在酵母中被发现，在真核生物中呈现出进化保守性，并在这些生物体的正常生长和发育中发挥不可或缺的作用。然而，该网络及其相关基因在玉米中的功能作用至今仍不清楚。在本研究中，我们总共鉴定出19个玉米MOR信号网络基因，随后的共表达分析表明，其中12个基因彼此之间表现出更强的关联，这表明它们可能对玉米的生长和发育具有潜在的共同调控作用。进一步分析发现，MOR信号网络中的基因与几个耐寒相关基因之间存在显著的共表达。所有MOR信号网络基因都与COLD1（一个参与冷刺激感知的关键基因）表现出显著的共表达，这表明在检测到冷刺激后，COLD1可能直接将冷应激信号传递给MOR信号网络基因。这些发现表明，MOR信号网络可能通过与关键耐寒基因（如COLD1）建立复杂关系，在调节玉米耐寒性方面发挥关键作用。在低温胁迫下，某些MOR信号网络基因的表达水平受到影响，其中ZmMOR1显著上调，ZmMOR2显著下调，这表明冷应激对MOR信号网络有调节作用。我们鉴定并分析了ZmMOR2的一个突变体，该突变体对冷应激表现出更高的敏感性，从而表明其参与了玉米冷应激的调控。这些发现表明，MOR信号网络的相关组分在玉米中也具有保守性，并且该信号网络在调节玉米耐寒性方面发挥着重要作用。本研究为提高玉米耐寒性提供了有价值的遗传资源。
