ZmNAC17 Regulates Mesocotyl Elongation by Mediating Auxin and ROS Biosynthetic Pathways in Maize

Ran Yang; Kangshi Li; Ming Wang; Meng Sun; Qiuhua Li; Liping Chen; Feng Xiao; Zhenlong Zhang; Haiyan Zhang; Fuchao Jiao; Jingtang Chen

doi:10.3390/ijms25094585

ZmNAC17 Regulates Mesocotyl Elongation by Mediating Auxin and ROS Biosynthetic Pathways in Maize

Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Apr 23;25(9):4585. doi: 10.3390/ijms25094585.

Authors

Ran Yang^{1

2}, Kangshi Li^{1

2}, Ming Wang^{1

2}, Meng Sun^{1

2}, Qiuhua Li^{1

2}, Liping Chen^{1

2}, Feng Xiao^{1

2}, Zhenlong Zhang^{1

2}, Haiyan Zhang^{1

2}, Fuchao Jiao^{1

2}, Jingtang Chen^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ College of Agronomy, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China.
² The Characteristic Laboratory of Crop Germplasm Innovation and Application, Provincial Department of Education, College of Agronomy, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao 266109, China.

Abstract

The mesocotyl is of great significance in seedling emergence and in responding to biotic and abiotic stress in maize. The NAM, ATAF, and CUC2 (NAC) transcription factor family plays an important role in maize growth and development; however, its function in the elongation of the maize mesocotyl is still unclear. In this study, we found that the mesocotyl length in zmnac17 loss-of-function mutants was lower than that in the B73 wild type. By using transcriptomic sequencing technology, we identified 444 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between zmnac17-1 and B73, which were mainly enriched in the "tryptophan metabolism" and "antioxidant activity" pathways. Compared with the control, the zmnac17-1 mutants exhibited a decrease in the content of indole acetic acid (IAA) and an increase in the content of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Our results provide preliminary evidence that ZmNAC17 regulates the elongation of the maize mesocotyl.

Keywords: ROS; ZmNAC17; auxin; maize; mesocotyl.

MeSH terms

Biosynthetic Pathways
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene Expression Regulation, Plant*
Indoleacetic Acids* / metabolism
Mutation
Plant Proteins* / genetics
Plant Proteins* / metabolism
Reactive Oxygen Species* / metabolism
Transcription Factors / genetics
Transcription Factors / metabolism
Transcriptome
Zea mays* / genetics
Zea mays* / growth & development
Zea mays* / metabolism

Substances

Indoleacetic Acids
Reactive Oxygen Species
Plant Proteins
Transcription Factors

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Maize Industry Technology System Genetic and Breeding Positions in Shandong (SDAIT-02–01), Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province (tsqn201909134), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (ZR2021QC179 and ZR2022MC193), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2021YFD1900903), Well-Breed Engineering of Shandong province (2021LZGC022), Innovation Team of Young Scientist in Shandong (2022KJ171), Talent Introduction Special Funds of Qingdao Agricultural University (665/1119016 and 665/1120014), and Taishan Leading Talents in Industry Project in Shandong Province (funding given to Jingtang Chen).