Identification and Characterization of ZF-HD Genes in Response to Abscisic Acid and Abiotic Stresses in Maize

Abstract

The zinc finger homeodomain (ZF-HD) genes belong to the homeobox gene family, playing critical roles in flower development and stress response. Despite their importance, however, to date there has been no genome-wide identification and characterization of the ZF-HD genes that are probably involved in stress responses in maize. In this study, 24 ZF-HD genes were identified, and their chromosomal locations, protein properties, duplication patterns, structures, conserved motifs and expression patterns were investigated. The results revealed that the ZF-HD genes are unevenly distributed on nine chromosomes and that most of these genes lack introns. Six and two ZF-HD genes have undergone segmental and tandem duplication, respectively, during genome expansion. These 24 ZF-HD transcription factors were classified into six major groups on the basis of protein molecular evolutionary relationship. The expression profiles of these genes in different tissues were evaluated, resulting in producing two distinct clusters. ZF-HD genes are preferentially expressed in reproductive tissues. Furthermore, expression profiles of the 24 ZF-HD genes in response to different kinds of stresses revealed that ten genes were simultaneously up-regulated under ABA, salt and PEG treatments; meanwhile four genes were simultaneously down-regulated. These findings will pave the way for deciphering the function and mechanism of ZF-HD genes on how to implicate in abiotic stress.

Genome-wide identification and expression analysis of the ZF-HD gene family in pea (Pisum sativum L.)

“…Previously, 58, 28, and 18 ZF-HD members were identified in soybean, wild soybean, and Tribulus alfalfa of the legume subfamily Pteridophyllaceae, respectively. In Chinese cabbage ( Wang et al, 2016 ), tea ( Zhou et al, 2021 ), buckwheat ( Liu et al, 2019 ), maize ( Jing et al, 2022 ), tobacco ( Sun et al, 2021 ), and tomato ( Hu et al, 2018 ), a total of 31, 18, 20, 24, 32, and 22 ZF-HD family members, respectively, have been reported. A total of 17 and 15 genes were identified in Arabidopsis and rice model crops, respectively.…”

“…Currently, the ZF-HD family is widely studied in several higher plants, including 17 members in Arabidopsis thaliana ( Hu et al, 2008 ), 32 members in tobacco ( Niu et al, 2021 ; Sun et al, 2021 ), 37 members in wheat ( Liu et al, 2021 ), 13 members in cucumber ( Lai et al, 2021 ), 24 members in maize ( Jing et al, 2022 ), 18 members in tea tree ( Zhou et al, 2021 ), 60 members in alfalfa ( He et al, 2022 ), 20 members in buckwheat, 62 members in kale type oilseed rape ( Song et al, 2019 ), and 31 members in Chinese cabbage ( Wang et al, 2016 ). To date, the biological functions of most of the ZF-HD genes identified in Arabidopsis thaliana have been characterized as being involved in blue light signaling regulation, vascular bundle development, outer cell biosynthesis of organs, stress response to adversity, and anthocyanin synthesis.…”

“…In other species, ZF-HD, such as tomato SlZF-HD7 and buckwheat FtZF-HD1, plays an important role in leaf and flower bud development ( Khatun et al, 2017 ; Liu et al, 2019 ). The expression analysis of 24 ZF-HD genes in maize under ABA, alpine, and drought stresses has showed that both ZF-HD 11 and ZF-HD 12 exhibit significant responses to abiotic stresses ( Jing et al, 2022 ).…”