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. 2023 Oct 25;12(21):3674.
doi: 10.3390/plants12213674.

Identification of the Maize LEA Gene Family and Its Relationship with Kernel Dehydration

Yaping Zhang  1 , Xiaojun Zhang  1 , Liangjia Zhu  1 , Lexin Wang  1 , Hao Zhang  1 , Xinghua Zhang  1 , Shutu Xu  1 , Jiquan Xue  1
Affiliations

Identification of the Maize LEA Gene Family and Its Relationship with Kernel Dehydration

Yaping Zhang et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Maize, the most widely planted and highest yielding of the three major crops in the world, requires the development and breeding of new varieties to accommodate the shift towards mechanized harvesting. However, the moisture content of kernels during harvest poses a significant challenge to mechanized harvesting, leading to seed breakage and increased storage costs. Previous studies highlighted the importance of LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) members in regulating kernel dehydration. In this study, we aimed to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the LEA family and grain dehydration in maize. Through expression pattern analysis of maize, we identified 52 LEA genes (ZmLEAs) distributed across 10 chromosomes, organized into seven subgroups based on phylogenetic analysis, gene structure, and conserved motifs. Evolutionary and selective pressure analysis revealed that the amplification of ZmLEA genes primarily resulted from whole-genome or fragment replication events, with strong purifying selection effects during evolution. Furthermore, the transcriptome data of kernels of two maize inbred lines with varying dehydration rates at different developmental stages showed that 14 ZmLEA genes were expressed differentially in the two inbreds. This suggested that the ZmLEA genes might participate in regulating the kernel dehydration rate (KDR) in maize. Overall, this study enhances our understanding of the ZmLEA family and provides a foundation for further research into its role in regulating genes associated with grain dehydration in maize.

Keywords: ZmLEA; expression pattern; kernel dehydration rate; maize.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interest or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of the 52 ZmLEA genes on chromosomes in maize.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Evolutionary analysis of the LEA genes in maize, Arabidopsis, sorghum, and rice.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Co-lineage and gene selection analysis of LEA family genes. (A) Co-lineage analysis of LEA family genes in maize, sorghum, rice, and A. thaliana. The gray line in the Figure refers to the covariate gene pairs among the four species, and the blue line represents the covariate gene pairs with maize LEA genes in the genomes of each species. (B) Maize LEA family gene selection pressure analysis, Ka stands for synonymous substitutions, and Ks for non-synonymous substitutions.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Covariate analysis of ZmLEA genes. The gray lines represent the covariates of the maize genome, and the red lines represent the ZmLEA covariate gene pairs.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Gene structure of the ZmLEA genes. The colored boxes represent exons, and the gray lines represent introns.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Conserved motif map of the ZmLEA genes.
Figure 7
Figure 7
(A) Promoter cis-element analysis and (B) functional annotation of the ZmLEA genes.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Expression heatmap of differentially expressed ZmLEA genes in KA105 and KB020.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Heatmap of ZmLEA protein expression in KA105.
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