Abstract
The C2H2-zinc finger proteins (ZFP) comprise a large family of transcription factors with various functions in biological processes. In maize, the function regulation of C2H2- zine finger (ZF) genes are poorly understood. We conducted an evolution analysis and functional prediction of the maize C2H2-ZF gene family. Furthermore, the ZmZFP126 gene has been cloned and sequenced for further favorable allelic variation discovery. The phylogenetic analysis of the C2H2-ZF domain indicated that the position and sequence of the C2H2-ZF domain of the poly-zinc finger gene are relatively conserved during evolution, and the C2H2-ZF domain with the same position is highly conserved. The expression analysis of the C2H2-ZF gene family in 11 tissues at different growth stages of B73 inbred lines showed that genes with multiple transcripts were endowed with more functions. The expression analysis of the C2H2-ZF gene in P1 and P2 inbred lines under drought conditions showed that the C2H2-ZF genes were mainly subjected to negative regulation under drought stress. Functional prediction indicated that the maize C2H2-ZF gene is mainly involved in reproduction and development, especially concerning the formation of important agronomic traits in maize yield. Furthermore, sequencing and correlation analysis of the ZmZFP126 gene indicated that this gene was significantly associated with the SDW-NAP and TDW-NAP. The analysis of the relationship between maize C2H2-ZF genes and C2H2-ZF genes with known functions indicated that the functions of some C2H2-ZF genes are relatively conservative, and the functions of homologous genes in different species are similar.
Highlights
Transcription factors play an important role in plant and animal response to various internal or external factors in order to adapt to the environment
The first type contained a conserved sequence “QALGGH” in the DNA-recognition motif and was designated as Q-type. This sequence has been shown to be specific to plants (Takatsuji et al, 1994), and 147 such zine finger (ZF) have been found in maize
The linkage disequilibrium (LD) level of this gene is very high throughout the entire gene region, indicating that it is evolutionarily conserved and is rarely affected by genomic recombination. This characteristic of the ZmZFP126 gene may be related to its location on the chromosome, near the centromere on maize chromosome 6, as the centromere region is considered to have a relatively low recombination rate
Summary
Transcription factors play an important role in plant and animal response to various internal or external factors in order to adapt to the environment. The arrangement of conserved amino acids in TFIIIA is $-XCX2,4,5-C-X3-$-X5-$-X2-H-X3,4-H, where X and $ represent any amino acid and a hydrophobic residue, respectively Based on this observation, along with the findings of earlier biochemical studies, Klug et al proposed the term “zinc finger” to describe that this 30-amino acid sequence motif forms an independent, DNA-binding mini-domain folded around a central zinc ion with a tetrahedral arrangement of cysteine and histidine metal ligands (Miller et al, 1985; Klug and Schwabe, 1995), The threedimensional structure of which comprised two parallel β-sheets and an α-helix that binds to the stable structure of a zinc ion (Takatsuji, 1999). Bioinformatics analyses have revealed that approximately 3% of mammalian genes (Bateman et al, 2004), 2.3% of dipteran genes (Chung et al, 2002), 0.8% of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes (Böhm et al, 1997), 0.4% of rice genes (Agarwal et al, 2007), 0.7% of Arabidopsis thaliana genes (Englbrecht et al, 2004), and 0.49% of maize (Zea mays) genes (Wei et al, 2016) encode the C2H2-ZFP
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
