title: Changes in the transcriptomic profiles of maize roots in response to iron-deficiency stress.
abstract: Plants are often subjected to iron (Fe)-deficiency stress because of its low solubility. Plants have evolved two distinct strategies to solubilize and transport Fe to acclimate to this abiotic stress condition. Transcriptomic profiling analysis was performed using Illumina digital gene expression to understand the mechanism underlying resistance responses of roots to Fe starvation in maize, an important Strategy II plant. A total of 3,427, 4,069, 4,881, and 2,610 genes had significantly changed expression levels after Fe-deficiency treatments of 1, 2, 4 or 7 days, respectively. Genes involved in 2'-deoxymugineic acid (DMA) synthesis, secretion, and Fe(III)-DMA uptake were significantly induced. Many genes related to plant hormones, protein kinases, and protein phosphatases responded to Fe-deficiency stress, suggesting their regulatory roles in response to the Fe-deficiency stress. Functional annotation clustering analysis, using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery, revealed maize root responses to Fe starvation. This resulted in 38 functional annotation clusters: 25 for up-regulated genes, and 13 for down-regulated ones. These included genes encoding enzymes involved in the metabolism of carboxylic acids, isoprenoids and aromatic compounds, transporters, and stress response proteins. Our work provides integrated information for understanding maize response to Fe-deficiency stress.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, Shandong Cooperative Innovation Center of Efficient Production with High Annual Yield of Wheat and Corn, Shandong Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Agronomy, Shandong Agricultural University, Taian, 271018, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Nian
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Fengtao
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xuejiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Zhaohua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Chunqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D016000:Cluster Analysis; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000502:physiology*; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013729:Terpenes / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D013729:Terpenes; D007501:Iron