Effect of Abiotic Stresses on Histidine kinases Gene Expression in Zea mays L. cv. SC. 704

Abstract

UV-B radiation and osmotic stress (like drought and salinity) have a significant effect on physiology, morphology, biochemistry and molecular biology. To cope with such stimuli, plants must be able to effectively sense, respond to and adapt to changes in their biological activities. Hence, signal transduction pathways play important role in response to environmental stimuli. In this study, the expression of three Histidine Kinases including ZmHK1, ZmHK2 and ZmHK3a was studied in maize plants exposed to 8 days drought, salinity and UV-B stresses applying transcript approach. The semi-quantitative RT-PCR analyses of ZmHKs showed up-regulation of ZmHK1 and ZmHK3 agenes after 8 days exposure to applied stresses except salinity in leaves, although, their regulation was more prominent during drought stress. Astonishingly, exposure to these stresses showed down-regulation of all genes in maize roots. However, the ZmHK1 behavior was quite different from two other homologues and showed up-regulation in combined stresses. We suggest that ZmHK1 and ZmHK3a, as cytokinin transmembrane receptors, sense osmolarity changes in cells caused by dehydration. Our data supports the involvement of ZmHK homologues under these stresses in maize and provides a gene expression dynamics during the stress which will be valuable for further studies of the molecular mechanisms of stress tolerance in maize.

Keywords

• drought stress
• RT-PCR
• salinity stress
• UV-B radiation
• ZmHKs gene expression