title: Characterization of the calcineurin B-Like (CBL) gene family in maize and functional analysis of ZmCBL9 under abscisic acid and abiotic stress treatments.
abstract: In plants, calcineurin B-like proteins (CBLs) play crucial roles in regulating calcium-signaling in response to various abiotic stresses by interacting with specific CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs). However, the identities and functions of CBL gene family members in maize are largely unknown. Here, we identified from the maize genome 12 CBL genes. All 12 CBLs have conserved EF-hand domains, and half harbor myristoylation motifs. We further characterized the function of one CBL gene, ZmCBL9, which can be induced by salt, dehydration, glucose and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments. Overexpression of ZmCBL9 enhanced resistance or tolerance to ABA, glucose, salt and osmotic stress in Arabidopsis and complemented the hypersensitive phenotype of the Arabidopsis cbl9 mutant in response to ABA and abiotic stress. The ZmCBL9 gene negatively regulates the expression of genes in the ABA signaling, biosynthesis and catabolism pathways. Moreover, the ZmCBL9 protein is found to interact with eight maize CIPKs and these ZmCIPK genes were up-regulated by different stress treatments, including salt, dehydration, glucose, low potassium and ABA. These results suggest that ZmCBL9 may interact with various ZmCIPKs to regulate the abiotic stress and ABA response signaling in plants.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China; Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210014, PR China.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhenzhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Yangsong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China; Institute of Nuclear Technology and Biotechnology, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Urumqi 830091, PR China.
authors.forename: Xunji
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Junjie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China.
authors.forename: Guoying
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, PR China. Electronic address: zhengjun02@caas.cn.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis; D020013:Calcium Signaling; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D005947:Glucose; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009997:Osmotic Pressure; D010802:Phylogeny; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D000040:Abscisic Acid; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D005947:Glucose
keywords: Abiotic stress; Abscisic acid; CBL; Maize