A systematic in silico report on iron and zinc proteome of Zea mays

Abstract

Zea mays is an essential staple food crop across the globe. Maize contains macro and micronutrients but is limited in essential mineral micronutrients such as Fe and Zn. Worldwide, serious health concerns have risen due to the deficiencies of essential nutrients in human diets, which rigorously jeopardizes economic development. In the present study, the systematic in silico approach has been used to predict Fe and Zn binding proteins from the whole proteome of maize. A total of 356 and 546 putative proteins have been predicted, which contain sequence and structural motifs for Fe and Zn ions, respectively. Furthermore, the functional annotation of these predicted proteins, based on their domains, subcellular localization, gene ontology, and literature support, showed their roles in distinct cellular and biological processes, such as metabolism, gene expression and regulation, transport, stress response, protein folding, and proteolysis. The versatile roles of these shortlisted putative Fe and Zn binding proteins of maize could be used to manipulate many facets of maize physiology. Moreover, in the future, the predicted Fe and Zn binding proteins may act as relevant, novel, and economical markers for various crop improvement programs.

Physiological and biochemistry response of mustard greens (Brassica juncea var. Tosakan) to iron and zinc biofortification

“…Fe and Zn are necessary micronutrients that are engaged in metabolic and catalytic processes and play an important function in photosynthetic processes (Bhatla and Lal, 2023). Iron serves as a key component of ferredoxin and cytochrome, playing a vital role in photosynthesis (Sharma et al, 2023), while Zn is a nutrient supporting the formation of NADPH or NADH, which are involved in converting radiant energy for the subsequent use in the plant's photosynthetic process (Ayyar et al, 2020). An elevation in the photosynthetic rate in plants is also noted in corn plants subjected to micro-fertilizer FeSO 4 .7H 2 O + ZnSO 4 .7H 2 O at different concentrations.…”