Shuhua Yang
China Agricultural University
Shuhua Yang is a professor in the College of Biological Science, China Agricultural University. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees at Nankai University, China, and a Ph.D degree at National University of Singapore. After completing postdoctoral research at Cornell University, she joined the faculty at China Agricultural University. She is currently the Director for the State Key Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. Her laboratory mainly focuses on the study of molecular mechanism of plant responses to low temperatures. As one of important environmental factors, low temperatures restrict plant growth, development and distribution. How plants sense and respond to low temperatures is poorly understood. To understand the molecular mechanism underlying plants’ response to low temperatures, her lab has been undertaking genetic, biochemical and molecular approaches to identify novel components essential for low temperature signaling pathway and investigate the functions of these components in cold responses using Arabidopsis thaliana and maize as research systems. She is also investigating the crosstalk of cold signaling and plant hormone signaling. Her research aims at deep understanding of how plants perceive and respond to the environmental temperature change.
Title of presentation
Molecular and genetic basis of cold tolerance in maize
Authors
Shuhua Yang, Yiting Shi, Rong Zeng, Zhuoyang Li, Haifang Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China
Abstract
Cold stress is a major abiotic stress that threatens maize (Zea mays L.) production worldwide. Using reverse genetics approach, we identified type-A Response Regulator 1 (ZmRR1) as a positive regulator, and transcription factor ZmbZIP68 and tonoplast intrinsic protein TIP4;3 as negative regulators of maize tolerance, respectively. Th protein stability of ZmRR1 and ZmbZIP68 is controlled by ZmMPK8-mediated phosphorylation. The natural variations of ZmRR1 occur at its phosphorylation site, resulting in the divergence of protein stability and chilling tolerance. The ZmbZIP68 locus was a target of selection during early domestication. An Indel polymorphism in the ZmbZIP68 promoter resulted in the differential expression of ZmbZIP68 between maize and its wild ancestor teosinte. TIPs are a subfamily of aquaporins in plants. Here, we report that TIP family proteins are involved in maize cold tolerance. The expression of most TIP genes was responsive to cold treatment. Overexpressing TIP2;1, TIP3;2 or TIP4;3 markedly diminished the cold tolerance of maize seedlings, whereas loss-of-function mutants of TIP4;3 showed enhanced cold tolerance. Candidate gene-based association analysis indicated that a 328-bp transposon insertion in the TIP4;3 promoter was strongly associated with maize cold tolerance. The detailed regulatory mechanism will be presented.
My Sessions
Molecular and genetic basis of cold tolerance in maize
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Presentation