National Engineering Laboratory of Crop Stress Resistance Breeding, School of Life Sciences, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Nov 1;25(21):11755. doi: 10.3390/ijms252111755.
G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are sensors for the G protein complex to sense changes in environmental factors and molecular switches for G protein complex signal transduction. In this study, the homologous gene of GPCR-like proteins was identified from maize and named as ZmCOLD1. Subcellular analysis showed that the ZmCOLD1 protein is localized to the cell membrane and endoplasmic reticulum. A CRISPR/Cas9 knock-out line of was further created and its plant height was significantly lower than the wild-type maize at both the seedling and adult stages. Histological analysis showed that the increased cell number but significantly smaller cell size may result in dwarfing of , indicating that the gene could regulate plant height development by affecting the cell division process. Additionally, ZmCOLD1 was verified to interact with the maize Gα subunit, ZmCT2, though the central hydrophilic loop domain by in vivo and in vitro methods. Abscisic acid (ABA) sensitivity analysis by seed germination assays exhibited that were hypersensitive to ABA, indicating its important roles in ABA signaling. Finally, transcriptome analysis was performed to investigate the transcriptional change in mutant. Overall, ZmCOLD1 functions as a GPCR-like protein and an important regulator to plant height.
G 蛋白偶联受体（GPCRs）是 G 蛋白复合物感应环境因素变化的传感器，也是 G 蛋白复合物信号转导的分子开关。本研究从玉米中鉴定到 GPCR 样蛋白的同源基因，并将其命名为 ZmCOLD1。亚细胞定位分析表明，ZmCOLD1 蛋白定位于细胞膜和内质网。进一步创建了 ZmCOLD1 的 CRISPR/Cas9 敲除系，其株高在幼苗期和成株期均显著低于野生型玉米。组织学分析表明，细胞数量增加而细胞体积明显变小可能导致矮化，表明该基因可能通过影响细胞分裂过程来调节株高发育。此外，通过体内和体外方法证实 ZmCOLD1 与玉米 Gα 亚基 ZmCT2 相互作用，尽管是通过中央亲水环结构域。通过种子萌发实验进行脱落酸（ABA）敏感性分析表明，对 ABA 敏感，表明其在 ABA 信号转导中具有重要作用。最后，进行了转录组分析以研究突变体的转录变化。总的来说，ZmCOLD1 作为 GPCR 样蛋白和重要的调节因子参与株高调控。
