Identification And Characterization Of Maize (Zea Mays L.) ZmJAZ14Gene Of TIFY Family

Since their discovery in the1960s as secondary metabolites in the essential oils of jasmine(Jasminum sp) flowers, jasmonates (JAs) have gradually reached their current undisputable status asplant hormones that are essential for the proper functioning of multiple plant processes, encompassingdevelopment, growth, and defense. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana(At), JAs are directlyinvolved in stamen and trichome development, vegetative growth, cell cycle regulation, senescence, andresponses to various biotic and abiotic stresses.TIFY family separated from the ZIM family, including three subfamilys, JAZs, ZIM and PPD.JAZs as jasmonic acid signaling pathway important regulatory protein act as a switch to regulate the JAsignaling pathway. Additionally, JAZs can also be combined with other regulatory factors in themetabolic pathway, so that the jasmonic acid metabolic pathway and other metabolic pathways aremutual synergistic and adjustment. So its play a crucial role in biological processes in plantdevelopment, growth, resistance and so on.The reports of TIFY family of economic crops are more and more in these years. Rice, soybeans,grapes and tobacco have been reported, but the role of the TIFY members is different. It can increase thegrain size in rice and can increase the sensitivity of the grapes and soybeans to salinity. It can promotesynthesis of nicotine in tobacco. So far there are no reports about the function of maize TIFY family, norany related reports of the function of maize JAZ proteins.In this paper, the maize transcription factor TIFY family is predicted and the maize specific TIFYtranscription factors are identified. JAZs gene ZmJAZ4and ZmJAZ14which specifically expressed inmaize endosperm are identified and cloned combined with microarray data analysis. Functionalidentification of ZmJAZ4,ZmJAZ14gene and the results of protein subcellular localization proved thatthe ZmJAZ4and ZmJAZ14conform to JAZs protein characteristics. ZmJAZ4and ZmJAZ14have theability to respond to hormones and stress hormones according to the results of stress treatment, whichprovided a clue of explanation of protein function.Meanwhile we got ZmJAZ14transgene Arabidopsis plants and the phenotype of transgenic plantswas identified. Arabidopsis plants which overexpressed of ZmJAZ14gene were sensitive to NAA, rootelongation were inhibited. And Arabidopsis plants were tolerant to drought and sensitive to alkalineenvironment because it was resisted to MeJA and SA.In this study, the interacting of ZmJAZ4and ZmJAZ14protein was investigated after acquiring thetransformed Arabidopsis in order to explain the reason of the corresponding phenotype more deeply. Inthis study, a maize endosperm cDNA library was established and the interacting proteins of ZmJAZ4ZmJAZ14protein in maize kernels were screened using the yeast two-hybrid system and then thecandidate genes were gotten. The candidate gene will be detected in order to provide direct molecularevidence to explain the function of ZmJAZ4and ZmJAZ14gene.