Identification of the Maize LEA Gene Family and Its Relationship with Kernel Dehydration.

Maize, the most widely planted and highest yielding of the three major crops in the world, requires the development and breeding of new varieties to accommodate the shift towards mechanized harvesting. However, the moisture content of kernels during harvest poses a significant challenge to mechanized harvesting, leading to seed breakage and increased storage costs. Previous studies highlighted the importance of LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) members in regulating kernel dehydration. In this study, we aimed to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the LEA family and grain dehydration in maize. Through expression pattern analysis of maize, we identified 52 LEA genes (ZmLEAs) distributed across 10 chromosomes, organized into seven subgroups based on phylogenetic analysis, gene structure, and conserved motifs. Evolutionary and selective pressure analysis revealed that the amplification of ZmLEA genes primarily resulted from whole-genome or fragment replication events, with strong purifying selection effects during evolution. Furthermore, the transcriptome data of kernels of two maize inbred lines with varying dehydration rates at different developmental stages showed that 14 ZmLEA genes were expressed differentially in the two inbreds. This suggested that the ZmLEA genes might participate in regulating the kernel dehydration rate (KDR) in maize. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the ZmLEA family and provides a foundation for further research into its role in regulating genes associated with grain dehydration in maize.

Group 3 LEA Protein, ZmLEA3, Is Involved in Protection from Low Temperature Stress.

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are a family of small highly hydrophilic proteins that accumulate at the onset of seed desiccation and in response to adverse conditions such as drought, salinity, low temperature, or water deficit. In previous studies, we demonstrated that ZmLEA3 could enhance the transgenic tobacco tolerance to osmotic and oxidative stresses. Here, we demonstrated that the transcription of ZmLEA3 in the maize stems could be significantly induced by low temperature and osmotic stresses and by treatment with abscisic acid (ABA) and H2O2. Further study indicated that ZmLEA3 is a single copy gene in the maize genome. The ZmLEA3 protein could protect lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity at low temperatures. The overexpression of ZmLEA3 conferred tolerance to low-temperature stress to transgenic tobacco, yeast (GS115) and E. coli (BL21).

Group 5 LEA protein, ZmLEA5C, enhance tolerance to osmotic and low temperature stresses in transgenic tobacco and yeast.

Group 5 LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) proteins contain a significantly higher proportion of hydrophobic residues but lack significant signature motifs or consensus sequences. This group is considered as an atypical group of LEA proteins. Up to now, there is little known about group 5C LEA proteins in maize. Here, we identified a novel group 5C LEA protein from maize. The accumulation of transcripts demonstrated that ZmLEA5C displayed similar induced characteristics in leaves and roots. Transcription of ZmLEA5C could be induced by low temperature, osmotic and oxidative stress and some signaling molecules, such as abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). However, transcription of ZmLEA5C was significantly inhibited by high salinity. Further study indicated that the ZmLEA5C protein could be phosphorylated by the protein kinase CKII. ZmLEA5C could protect the activity of LDH under water deficit and low temperature stresses. Overexpression of ZmLEA5C conferred to transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) and yeast (GS115) tolerance to osmotic and low temperature stresses.

ZmLEA3, a multifunctional group 3 LEA protein from maize (Zea mays L.), is involved in biotic and abiotic stresses.

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins accumulate to high levels during the late stage of seed maturation and in response to water deficit, and are involved in protecting higher plants from damage caused by environmental stresses, especially drought. In the present study, a novel maize (Zea mays L.) group 3 LEA gene, ZmLEA3, was identified and later characterized using transgenic tobacco plants to investigate its functions in abiotic and biotic stresses. Transcript accumulation demonstrated that ZmLEA3 was induced in leaves by high salinity, low temperature, osmotic and oxidative stress as well as by signaling molecules such as ABA, salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). The transcript of ZmLEA3 could also be induced by pathogens [Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 (pst dc3000)]. ZmLEA3 is located in the cytosol and the nucles. Further study indicated that the ZmLEA3 protein could bind Mn(2+), Fe(3+), Cu(2+) and Zn(2+). Overexpression of ZmLEA3 in transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and yeast (GS115) conferred tolerance to osmotic and oxidative stresses. Interestingly, we also found that overexpression of ZmLEA3 in transgenic tobacco increased the hypersensitive cell death triggered by pst dc3000 and enhanced the expression of PR1a, PR2 and PR4 when compared with the wild type. Thus, we proposed that the ZmLEA3 protein plays a role in protecting plants from damage by protecting protein structure and binding metals under osmotic and oxidative stresses. In addition, ZmLEA3 may also enhance transgenic plant tolerance to biotic stress.