Genome-Wide Characterization and Function Analysis of Genes' Response to Saline Stress in L.

Early responsive dehydration (ERD) genes can be rapidly induced by dehydration. ERD15 genes have been confirmed to regulate various stress responses in plants. However, the maize ERD15 members have not been characterized. In the present study, a total of five genes were identified from the maize genome and named , , , , and . Subsequently, their protein properties, gene structure and duplication, chromosomal location, -acting elements, subcellular localization, expression pattern, and over-expression in yeast were analyzed. The results showed that the ZmERD15 proteins were characterized by a similar size (113-159 aa) and contained a common domain structure, with PAM2 and adjacent PAE1 motifs followed by an acidic region. The ZmERD15 proteins exhibited a close phylogenetic relationship with OsERD15s from rice. Five genes were distributed on maize chromosomes 2, 6, 7, and 9 and showed a different exon-intron organization and were expanded by duplication. Besides, the promoter region of the contained abundant -acting elements that are known to be responsive to stress and hormones. Subcellular localization showed that ZmERD15b and ZmERD15c were localized in the nucleus. ZmERD15a and ZmERD15e were localized in the nucleus and cytoplasm. ZmERD15d was localized in the nucleus and cell membrane. The results of the quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) showed that the expression of the genes was regulated by PEG, salinity, and ABA. The heterologous expression of , , , and significantly enhanced salt tolerance in yeast. In summary, a comprehensive analysis of was conducted in the study. The results will provide insights into further dissecting the biological function and molecular mechanism of regulating of the stress response in maize.