ZmDnaJ-ZmNCED6 module positively regulates drought tolerance via modulating stomatal closure in maize.

Heat Shock Protein plays a vital role in maintaining protein homeostasis and protecting cells from stress stimulation. As one of the HSP40 proteins, DnaJ is a stress response protein widely existing in plant cells. The function and regulatory mechanism of ZmDnaJ, a novel chloroplast-localized type-III HSP40, in maize drought tolerance were characterized.

Identification and validation of seed dormancy loci and candidate genes and construction of regulatory networks by WGCNA in maize introgression lines.

Seventeen PHS-QTLs and candidate genes were obtained, including eleven major loci, three under multiple environments and two with co-localization by the other mapping methods; The functions of three candidate genes were validated using mutants; nine target proteins and five networks were filtered by joint analysis of GWAS and WGCNA. Seed dormancy (SD) and pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) affect yield, as well as grain and hybrid quality in seed production. Therefore, identification of genetic and regulatory pathways underlying PHS and SD is key to gene function analysis, allelic variation mining and genetic improvement.

Integrated Transcriptomic and Proteomic Analyses of Low-Nitrogen-Stress Tolerance and Function Analysis of ZmGST42 Gene in Maize.

Maize ( L.) is one of the major staple crops providing human food, animal feed, and raw material support for biofuel production. For its growth and development, maize requires essential macronutrients.

Metabolic pathways engineering for drought or/and heat tolerance in cereals.

Drought (D) and heat (H) are the two major abiotic stresses hindering cereal crop growth and productivity, either singly or in combination (D/+H), by imposing various negative impacts on plant physiological and biochemical processes. Consequently, this decreases overall cereal crop production and impacts global food availability and human nutrition. To achieve global food and nutrition security global climate change, deployment of new strategies for enhancing crop D/+H stress tolerance and higher nutritive value in cereals is imperative.

Reproductive-Stage Heat Stress in Cereals: Impact, Plant Responses and Strategies for Tolerance Improvement.

Reproductive-stage heat stress (RSHS) poses a major constraint to cereal crop production by damaging main plant reproductive structures and hampering reproductive processes, including pollen and stigma viability, pollination, fertilization, grain setting and grain filling. Despite this well-recognized fact, research on crop heat stress (HS) is relatively recent compared to other abiotic stresses, such as drought and salinity, and in particular, RSHS studies in cereals are considerably few in comparison with seedling-stage and vegetative-stage-centered studies. Meanwhile, climate change-exacerbated HS, independently or synergistically with drought, will have huge implications on crop performance and future global food security.

Comparative Proteomic Analysis of Two Contrasting Maize Hybrids' Responses to Low Nitrogen Stress at the Twelve Leaf Stage and Function Verification of Gene.

Nitrogen is one of the essential nutrients for plant growth and development. However, large amounts of nitrogen fertilizer not only increase the production costs, but also lead to serious environmental problems. Therefore, it is particularly important to reduce the application of nitrogen fertilizer and develop maize varieties with low nitrogen tolerance.

Omics-Facilitated Crop Improvement for Climate Resilience and Superior Nutritive Value.

Novel crop improvement approaches, including those that facilitate for the exploitation of crop wild relatives and underutilized species harboring the much-needed natural allelic variation are indispensable if we are to develop climate-smart crops with enhanced abiotic and biotic stress tolerance, higher nutritive value, and superior traits of agronomic importance. Top among these approaches are the "omics" technologies, including genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, phenomics, and their integration, whose deployment has been vital in revealing several key genes, proteins and metabolic pathways underlying numerous traits of agronomic importance, and aiding marker-assisted breeding in major crop species. Here, citing several relevant examples, we appraise our understanding on the recent developments in omics technologies and how they are driving our quest to breed climate resilient crops.

Advances in Cereal Crop Genomics for Resilience under Climate Change.

Adapting to climate change, providing sufficient human food and nutritional needs, and securing sufficient energy supplies will call for a radical transformation from the current conventional adaptation approaches to more broad-based and transformative alternatives. This entails diversifying the agricultural system and boosting productivity of major cereal crops through development of climate-resilient cultivars that can sustainably maintain higher yields under climate change conditions, expanding our focus to crop wild relatives, and better exploitation of underutilized crop species. This is facilitated by the recent developments in plant genomics, such as advances in genome sequencing, assembly, and annotation, as well as gene editing technologies, which have increased the availability of high-quality reference genomes for various model and non-model plant species.

Global Transcriptome and Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analyses of Growth-Stage-Specific Drought Stress Responses in Maize.

Drought is the major abiotic stress threatening maize ( L.) production globally. Despite recent scientific headway in deciphering maize drought stress responses, the overall picture of key genes, pathways, and co-expression networks regulating maize drought tolerance is still fragmented.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis of contrasting hybrid cultivars reveal key drought-responsive genes and metabolic pathways regulating drought stress tolerance in maize at various stages.

Drought stress is the primary environmental factor that negatively influences plant growth and yield in cereal grain crops such as maize (Zea mays L.). Crop breeding efforts for enhanced drought resistance require improved knowledge of plant drought stress responses.

Comparative transcriptomic and physiological analyses of contrasting hybrid cultivars ND476 and ZX978 identify important differentially expressed genes and pathways regulating drought stress tolerance in maize.

Background: Drought is the major abiotic stress factor that negatively influences growth and yield in cereal grain crops such as maize (Zea mays L.). A multitude of genes and pathways tightly modulate plant growth, development and responses to environmental stresses including drought.

Comparative Proteomic and Morpho-Physiological Analyses of Maize Wild-Type Vp16 and Mutant vp16 Germinating Seed Responses to PEG-Induced Drought Stress.

Drought stress is a major abiotic factor compromising plant cell physiological and molecular events, consequently limiting crop growth and productivity. Maize ( L.) is among the most drought-susceptible food crops.

Maize leaves drought-responsive genes revealed by comparative transcriptome of two cultivars during the filling stage.

Like other important cereal crop in modern agricultural production, maize is also threatened by drought. And the drought stress during maize filling stage will directly affect the quality (protein or oil concentration) and also the weight of grain. Therefore, different from previous studies focusing on inbred lines and pot experiment at seedling stage, current study selected filling stage of the adult plant and planting maize in the experimental field.

Comparative Proteomics and Physiological Analyses Reveal Important Maize Filling-Kernel Drought-Responsive Genes and Metabolic Pathways.

Despite recent scientific headway in deciphering maize ( L.) drought stress responses, the overall picture of key proteins and genes, pathways, and protein-protein interactions regulating maize filling-kernel drought tolerance is still fragmented. Yet, maize filling-kernel drought stress remains devastating and its study is critical for tolerance breeding.

Key Maize Drought-Responsive Genes and Pathways Revealed by Comparative Transcriptome and Physiological Analyses of Contrasting Inbred Lines.

To unravel the molecular mechanisms underpinning maize ( L.) drought stress tolerance, we conducted comprehensive comparative transcriptome and physiological analyses of drought-tolerant YE8112 and drought-sensitive MO17 inbred line seedlings that had been exposed to drought treatment for seven days. Resultantly, YE8112 seedlings maintained comparatively higher leaf relative water and proline contents, greatly increased peroxidase activity, but decreased malondialdehyde content, than MO17 seedlings.

Comparative Proteomic and Physiological Analyses of Two Divergent Maize Inbred Lines Provide More Insights into Drought-Stress Tolerance Mechanisms.

Drought stress is the major abiotic factor threatening maize ( L.) yield globally. Therefore, revealing the molecular mechanisms fundamental to drought tolerance in maize becomes imperative.

Analysis of sulphur and chlorine induced DNA cytosine methylation alterations in fresh corn (Zea mays L. saccharata and rugosa) leaf tissues by methylation sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) approach.

DNA (cytosine) methylation mechanism is another way through which plants respond to various cues including soil fertility amendments and abiotic stresses, and the mechanism has been used to infer some physiological, biochemical or adaptation processes. Despite numerous studies on global DNA methylation profiling in various crop species, however, researches on fresh corn (Zea mays L. saccharata or rugosa) remain largely unreported.