title: Transcriptional responses of maize seedling root to phosphorus starvation.
abstract: Maize (Zea mays) is the most widely cultivated crop around the world, however, it is commonly affected by phosphate (Pi) deficiency and the underlying molecular basis of responses mechanism is still unknown. In this study, the transcriptional response of maize roots to Pi starvation at 3 days after the onset of Pi deprivation was assessed. The investigation revealed a total of 283 Pi-responsive genes, of which 199 and 84 genes were found to be either up- or down-regulated respectively, by 2-fold or more. Pi-responsive genes were found to be involved in sugar and nitrogen metabolic pathways, ion transport, signal transduction, transcriptional regulation, and other processes related to growth and development. In addition, the expression patterns of maize inorganic phosphorus transporters, acid phosphatase, phytase, 2-deoxymugineic acid synthase1, POD and MYB transcription factor were validated in 178 roots response to low phosphorus stress. of which, two genes encoding phytase and acid phosphatase were significantly induced by Pi deficiency and may play a pivotal role in the process of absorption and re-utilization of Pi in Maize. These results not only enhance our knowledge about molecular processes associated with Pi deficiency, but also facilitate the identification of key molecular determinants for improving Pi use in maize. Moreover, this work sets a framework to produce Pi-specific maize microarrays to study the changes in global gene expression between Pi-efficient and Pi-inefficient maize genotypes.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Resources and Improvement, Ministry of Education, Institute of Maize Research, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang, 611130, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hai-Jian
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Zhi-Ming
authors.initials: ZM
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ya-Ou
authors.initials: YO
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kui
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.forename: Maojun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Shufeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Yong-Zhong
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shi-Bin
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Guang-Tang
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Pan
mesh_terms: D003124:Colorimetry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000502:physiology*; D046228:Microarray Analysis / Q000379:methods; D010710:Phosphates / Q000172:deficiency*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D036226:Seedlings / Q000378:metabolism*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010710:Phosphates; D010940:Plant Proteins