Corn's stress-response brake could help breed tougher crops
Wang T, Ma A, Cheng J, Han Y, Chen X
Crop Improvement
The corn in fields you drive past every summer relies on an internal switch that decides when to stop fighting drought and start growing again, and tweaking that switch could mean sturdier harvests in dry years.
Corn plants have a built-in system that helps them survive drought, but scientists found this same system also has a way to ease off once the stress signal has done its job, so the plant can get back to normal growth. They traced a chain of three proteins that pass a signal along like a relay race, ending with one protein blocking a sugar-related gene that would otherwise hold the plant back from resisting drought. Understanding this feedback loop gives breeders a genetic target for developing corn that copes better with dry spells.
Key Findings
CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of ZmWRKY38 transcription factor increased maize sensitivity to drought, confirming it as a positive regulator of drought tolerance.
ZmWRKY38 normally represses the sucrose synthase gene ZmSUS2, and zmsus2 mutant plants showed enhanced drought resistance, identifying ZmSUS2 as a negative regulator of drought tolerance.
Under ABA or drought stress, ZmSnRK2.10 phosphorylates ZmRIPK2, which moves into the nucleus and phosphorylates ZmWRKY38, impairing its DNA-binding and creating a negative feedback loop that balances stress response with normal growth.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists discovered how corn plants dial back their drought defenses once the danger passes, using a chain of molecular signals that fine-tunes stress response so the plant doesn't sacrifice growth for protection longer than necessary. This finding could help breed corn varieties that handle drought better while still producing good yields.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
A phosphorylation cascade involving ZmSnRK2.10-ZmRIPK2-ZmWRKY38 attenuates drought response by derepressing ZmSUS2 in maize.
Drought stress severely limits crop productivity, with transcription factors (TFs) playing pivotal roles in plant adaptation. Here, we identify the maize TF ZmWRKY38 as a positive regulator of drou...
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