ZmERF21 directly regulates hormone signaling and stress‐responsive gene expression to influence drought tolerance in maize seedlings

Abstract

Drought stress adversely impacts crop development and yield. Maize frequently encounters drought stress during its life cycle. Improvement of drought tolerance is a priority of maize breeding programs. Here, we identified a novel transcription factor encoding gene, APETALA2 (AP2)/Ethylene response factor (ERF), which is tightly associated with drought tolerance in maize seedlings. ZmERF21 is mainly expressed in the root and leaf and it can be highly induced by polyethylene glycol treatment. Genetic analysis showed that the zmerf21 mutant plants displayed a reduced drought tolerance phenotype, accompanied by phenotypical and physiological changes that are commonly observed in drought conditions. Overexpression of ZmERF21 in maize significantly increased the chlorophyll content and activities of antioxidant enzymes under drought conditions. RNA‐Seq and DNA affinity purification sequencing analysis further revealed that ZmERF21 may directly regulate the expression of genes related to hormone (ethylene, abscisic acid) and Ca signaling as well as other stress‐response genes through binding to the promoters of potential target genes. Our results thereby provided molecular evidence of ZmERF21 is involved in the drought stress response of maize.

TaERF87 and TaAKS1 synergistically regulate TaP5CS1/TaP5CR1‐mediated proline biosynthesis to enhance drought tolerance in wheat

“…Among the molecular regulators of stress response, the plant‐specific ERF TF family participates in a broad range of growth and developmental processes essential for plant life, especially biotic and abiotic stress responses (Giuliano et al ., 2014; Liu et al ., 2018; Feng et al ., 2020). The ERF family TFs have been identified throughout the plant kingdom and are well studied in Arabidopsis and staple crops such as rice and maize (Ren et al ., 2013; Xie et al ., 2019; Wang et al ., 2022). However, due to their functional diversity and the breadth of their involvement in different pathways, the biological functions and regulatory mechanisms of most ERF TFs remain uncharacterized, and their role in drought stress response especially merits further study.…”

HvbZIP21, a Novel Transcription Factor From Wild Barley Confers Drought Tolerance by Modulating ROS Scavenging

“…Transcription factors (TFs), such as AP2, ERF, NAC, MYB, WRKY, DREB, and bZIP, have been shown to play roles in the drought response regulation (Gujjar et al, 2014;Gupta et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2022). Here, we identified 35 TFs in total that were significantly increased in EC_S1 under drought treatment (Supplementary Figure 6).…”

Advances of Apetala2/Ethylene Response Factors in Regulating Development and Stress Response in Maize

“…ZmEREB46 could directly bind to promoter regions of ZmCER2 , ZmCER3.2 , and ZmKCS1 to affect the biosynthesis of very long-chain waxes and be involved in the cutin biosynthesis pathway. ZmERF21 was induced by polyethylene glycol treatment and is highly expressed in the root and leaf [ 27 ]. The mutant line of ZmERF21 showed a sensitive phenotype of drought stress in maize whereas the overexpression line enhanced tolerance through physiological changes.…”