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Plant Growth Regulation

, Volume 85, Issue 1, pp 113–122 | Cite as

Characterization of the ZmbHLH122 transcription factor and its potential collaborators in maize male reproduction

  • Yongming Liu
  • Zhuofan Zhao
  • Gui Wei
  • Peng Zhang
  • Hai Lan
  • Suzhi Zhang
  • Chuan Li
  • Moju CaoEmail author
Original paper
First Online:

Abstract

OsEAT1 (DTD), a stamen-specific bHLH transcription factor, is a master regulator in rice male reproduction. To elucidate its functional mechanism in maize male reproduction, the maize orthologue ZmbHLH122 of OsEAT1 was isolated in this study. Sequence analysis revealed that the ZmbHLH122 coding sequence consists of 1422 bp which encode a protein of 473 amino acids. Bioinformatic analysis confirmed that ZmbHLH122 belongs to the bHLH TF family. The subcellular localization of ZmbHLH122-eGFP in rice protoplasts showed that ZmbHLH122 is a nuclear-localized protein. Yeast one-hybrid assays demonstrated that ZmbHLH122 exhibits weak transactivation ability. Genome-wide coexpression analysis identified 751 potential collaborators of ZmbHLH122, most of which are highly expressed in maize anthers and tassels, and sequence alignment analysis revealed that 43 coexpressed genes are homologous to Arabidopsis male fertility-related genes. Expression pattern analysis confirmed that ZmbHLH122 and its potential collaborators Ms23 (ZmbHLH16), ZmbHLH51, ZmbHLH66 (Ms32) and ZmMYB74 are preferentially expressed in the maize male reproductive organs, especially those at the uninucleate and early binucleate stages. Yeast two-hybrid assays revealed that ZmMYB74 directly interacts with two maize stamen development regulators, Ms23 (ZmbHLH16) and ZmbHLH51, and indirectly collaborates with ZmbHLH122. Our study lays the foundation for further understanding of the ZmbHLH122 molecular function in maize male reproduction.

Keywords

bHLH transcription factor Yeast hybrids Coexpression analysis Male reproduction Maize 
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Notes

Author contributions

MC and YL designed the research and wrote the article. YL performed most of the experiments. GW, ZZ, and PZ performed some of the experiments. HL, SZ, and CL assisted in the data analysis. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by Grants from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2016YFD0101206) and the Platform for Mutation Breeding by Radiation in Sichuan (No. 2016NZ0106).

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Supplementary material

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Analysis of transcriptional activity of ZmMYB74 in yeast. The recombinant vector pGBKT7-ZmMYB74 was transformed into an AH109 competent yeast cell and then was cultivated on the corresponding selective medium at 28°C for 48-72h (TIF 172 KB)
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Yongming Liu
    • 1
  • Zhuofan Zhao
    • 1
  • Gui Wei
    • 1
  • Peng Zhang
    • 1
  • Hai Lan
    • 1
  • Suzhi Zhang
    • 1
  • Chuan Li
    • 1
  • Moju Cao
    • 1
    Email author
  1. 1.Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Maize in Southwest Region of Ministry of Agriculture, Maize Research InstituteSichuan Agricultural UniversityChengduChina

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