ZmHOX32 is related to photosynthesis and likely functions in plant architecture of maize

Abstract

HOX32, a member of the HD-ZIP III family, functions in the leaf morphogenesis and plant photosynthesis. However, the regulatory mechanism of HOX32 in maize has not been studied and the regulatory relationship in photosynthesis is unclear. We conducted a comprehensive study, including phylogenetic analysis, expression profiling at both transcriptome and translatome levels, subcellular localization, tsCUT&Tag, co-expression analysis, and association analysis with agronomic traits on HOX32 for the dissection of the functional roles of HOX32. ZmHOX32 shows conservation in plants. As expected, maize HOX32 protein is specifically expressed in the nucleus. ZmHOX32 showed constitutively expression at both transcriptome and translatome levels. We uncovered the downstream target genes of ZmHOX32 by tsCUT&Tag and constructed a cascaded regulatory network combining the co-expression networks. Both direct and indirect targets of ZmHOX32 showed significant gene ontology enrichment in terms of photosynthesis in maize. The association study suggested that ZmHOX32 plays an important role in regulation of plant architecture. Our results illustrate a complex regulatory network of HOX32 involving in photosynthesis and plant architecture, which deepens our understanding of the phenotypic variation in plants.

Exploration of chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics gene regulatory in rice (Oryza sativa L.): a genome-wide association study

“…Rice is one of the most extensively studied crops, and many projects such as the 3K Rice Genomes Project have provided extensive genetic data for the research ( Wang et al., 2018 ). Proper distribution of photosynthetic energy can improve the efficiency of crop light use efficiency, and some studies have identified the functional genes related to chlorophyll content ( Wang et al., 2015 ), fluorescence parameters ( Hao et al., 2012 ; Wang et al., 2017 ), and photosynthesis ( Wang et al., 2020 ; Miao et al., 2023 ) through genetic mapping and natural population identification, which can greatly facilitate the research on plant productivity and food security. However, few loci or genes in these natural variations have been reported to be involved in the genetic basis of rice chlorophyll content, fluorescence parameters, and their interrelationships, and there has been a lack of comprehensive and effective analysis of the genetic basis and relationship of these traits.…”