title: ZmGRF, a GA regulatory factor from maize, promotes flowering and plant growth in Arabidopsis.
abstract: Transcription factors that act as positive regulators of gibberellin (GA) biosynthetic genes in plants are not well understood. A nuclear-localized basic leucine zipper transcription factor, ZmGRF, was isolated from maize. The core DNA sequence motif recognized for binding by ZmGRF was CCANNTGGC. ZmGRF overexpression in transgenic Arabidopsis plants promoted flowering, stem elongation, and cell expansion. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that ZmGRF bound directly to the cis-element CCANNTGGC in the promoter of the Arabidopsis ent-kaurene oxidase (AtKO1) gene and promoted AtKO1 expression. GA4 content increased by 372-567% in transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing ZmGRF compared to wild-type control plants. The GIBBERELLIN-INSENSITIVE DWARF1 gene, which encodes a GA receptor, was also upregulated and the growth-repressing DELLA protein gene GA INSENSITIVE was downregulated. Our results showed ZmGRF functioned through the GA-signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Biotechnology Research Institute, National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China.
authors.forename: Miaoyun
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yunming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jingcheng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Zhiqiu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Mingda
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yunliu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000254:growth & development*; D035264:Flowers / Q000254:growth & development*; D005875:Gibberellins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005875:Gibberellins; D010940:Plant Proteins