title: Family-wide survey of miR169s and NF-YAs and their expression profiles response to abiotic stress in maize roots.
abstract: Previous studies have identified miR169/NF-YA modules are important regulators of plant development and stress responses. Currently, reported genome sequence data offers an opportunity for global characterization of miR169 and NF-YA genes, which may provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of the miR169/NF-YA modules in maize. In our study, fourteen NF-YA transcription factors with conserved domains were identified based on maize genome loci. The miR169 gene family has 18 members that generate 10 mature products, and 8 of these mature miR169 members could target 7 of 14 ZmNF-YA genes in maize. The seven ZmNF-YA proteins were localized to the nucleus while lacked transcriptional activity. We investigated the expression patterns of the zma-miR169 members and their targeted ZmNF-YA genes in maize roots treated by drought stress (polyethylene glycol, PEG), hormone stress (abscisic acid, ABA), and salt stress (NaCl). The zma-miR169 family members were downregulated in short term (0 ∼ 48 h) and generally upregulated over the long term (15 days) in response to the three abiotic stress conditions. Most of the targeted ZmNF-YA genes exhibited a reverse correlation with zma-miR169 gene expression over both the short term and long term. Maize root elongation was promoted by PEG and ABA but repressed by NaCl over the long term. Apparently, ZmNF-YA14 expression perfectly matched the zma-miR169 expression and corresponded to root growth reversely.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China; Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Mingda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Miaoyun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Nongke Group CO., LTD, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Yunming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qiuxue
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Chunyi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yunliu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China; Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhihong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lang
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China; Biotechnology Research Institute/The National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010641:Phenotype; D010802:Phylogeny; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D021381:Protein Transport; D034622:RNA Interference; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000235:genetics*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014157:Transcription Factors