Weina Si

Anhui Agricultural University

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Haiyang Jiang

Anhui Agricultural University

Longjiang Gu

Anhui Agricultural University

Qianqian Qin

Guangxi Medical University

Beijiu Cheng

Anhui Agricultural University

Sihai Yang

Nanjing University

Xiaohui Zhang

Air Force Medical University

Jing Wang

Anhui Agricultural University

Anqi Su

Anhui Agricultural University

Dacheng Tian

Nanjing University

Zimeng Wang

Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology

Cooperative Institutions

Anhui Agricultural University

Nanjing University

Chinese Academy of Sciences

Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs

Sun Yat-sen University

Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College

Huazhong University of Science and Technology

Lanzhou University

Nanjing Agricultural University

Sichuan Agricultural University

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ZmmiR190 and its target regulate plant responses to drought stress through an ABA-dependent pathway

Plant Science (2021)

Wenbo Chai Nannan Song Anqi Su Jun Wang Weina Si

Drought Tolerance

Genetically modified rice

10.1016/j.plantsci.2021.111034

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Citations (8)

Plant defense mechanism and current understanding of salicylic acid and NPRs in activating SAR

Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology (2018)

Asif Ali Liaqat Shah Shamsur Rehman Muhammad Waheed Riaz Mohammad Yahya

NPR1

Systemic Acquired Resistance

10.1016/j.pmpp.2018.08.001

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Citations (23)

Whole-Genome and Transposed Duplication Contributes to the Expansion and Diversification of TLC Genes in Maize

International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2019)

Weina Si Tianlu Hang Mingyue Guo Zhen Chen Qizhi Liang

TLC (TRAM/LAG/CRN8) proteins play important roles in ceramide metabolism and mycotoxin resistance. Herein a comparative genomics analysis of TLCs was performed in 31 plant and 3 species from other kingdoms, with an emphasis mainly on maize. TLCs were conserved across kingdoms and expanded in angiosperms, largely due to whole-genome/segmental duplication (WGD/SD) under purifying selection. Phylogeny reconstruction by maximum-likelihood method uncovered five TLC clades, subsequently named as TRAM/LAG, CLN8, PS-TLC, TM136 and TLCD clades. Each clade of TLCs shared specific transmembrane regions and motif composition. Divisions of conserved motifs to subunits may have occurred in TM136-type TLCs. Focusing on maize, five WGD and two DNA-mediated transposed duplication (TD) pairs were discovered, accounting for 61.11% ZmTLCs. Combined with further expression analysis, significant divergence was found in expression patterns between most maize WGD pairs, indicating subfunctionalization or/and neofunctionalization. Moreover, ZmTLC5, a deduced parental copy in a TD pair, was highly induced under FB1 and fungus pathogen injection and exhibited potential capacity to respond to environmental stimuli. Additionally, population genetics analysis showed that ZmTLC10 in the CLN8-clade may have experienced significant positive selection and differentiated between wild and inbred maize populations. Overall, our results help to decipher the evolutionary history of TLCs in maize and plants, facilitating further functional analysis of them.

Neofunctionalization

Comparative Genomics

Subfunctionalization

10.3390/ijms20215484

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Citations (17)

A Novel Heat Shock Transcription Factor (ZmHsf08) Negatively Regulates Salt and Drought Stress Responses in Maize

International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2021)

Jing Wang Li Chen Yun Chau Long Weina Si Beijiu Cheng

Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) play important roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses. However, the function of these transcription factors in abiotic stress responses in maize (Zea mays) remains largely unknown. In this study, we characterized a novel HSF transcription factor gene, ZmHsf08, from maize. ZmHsf08 was highly homologous to SbHsfB1, BdHsfB1, and OsHsfB1, and has no transcriptional activation activity. The expression profiles demonstrated that ZmHsf08 was differentially expressed in various organs of maize and was induced by salt, drought, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Moreover, the overexpression of ZmHsf08 in maize resulted in enhanced sensitivity to salt and drought stresses, displaying lower survival rates, higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) contents compared with wild-type (WT) plants. Furthermore, RT-qPCR analyses revealed that ZmHsf08 negatively regulates a number of stress/ABA-responsive genes under salt and drought stress conditions. Collectively, these results indicate that ZmHsf08 plays a negative role in response to salt and drought stresses in maize.

Malondialdehyde

Heat shock factor

Transcription

10.3390/ijms222111922

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Citations (36)

Deciphering evolutionary dynamics of SWEET genes in diverse plant lineages

Scientific Reports (2018)

Xiaoyu Li Weina Si Qianqian Qin Hao Wu Haiyang Jiang

SWEET/MtN3/saliva genes are prevalent in cellular organisms and play diverse roles in plants. These genes are widely considered as evolutionarily conserved genes, which is inconsistent with their extensive expansion and functional diversity. In this study, SWEET genes were identified from 31 representative plant species, and exhibited remarkable expansion and diversification ranging from aquatic to land plants. Duplication detection indicated that the sharp increase in the number of SWEET genes in higher plants was largely due to tandem and segmental duplication, under purifying selection. In addition, phylogeny reconstruction of SWEET genes was performed using the maximum-likelihood (ML) method; the genes were grouped into four clades, and further classified into 10 monocot and 11 dicot subfamilies. Furthermore, selection pressure of SWEET genes in different subfamilies was investigated via different strategies (classical and Bayesian maximum likelihood (Datamonkey/PAML)). The average dN/dS for each group were lower than one, indicating purifying selection. Individual positive selection sites were detected within 4 of the 21 sub-families by both two methods, including two monocot subfamilies in Clade III, harboring five rice SWEET homologs characterized to confer resistance to rice bacterial blight disease. Finally, we traced evolutionary fate of SWEET genes in clade III for functional characterization in future.

Negative selection

10.1038/s41598-018-31589-x

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Citations (25)

Genome-Wide Investigation and Expression Profiling of HD-Zip Transcription Factors in Foxtail Millet (Setaria italicaL.)

BioMed Research International (2018)

Wenbo Chai Weina Si Wei Ji Qianqian Qin Manli Zhao

HD-Zip proteins represent the major transcription factors in higher plants, playing essential roles in plant development and stress responses. Foxtail millet is a crop to investigate the systems biology of millet and biofuel grasses and the HD-Zip gene family has not been studied in foxtail millet. For further investigation of the expression profile of the HD-Zip gene family in foxtail millet, a comprehensive genome-wide expression analysis was conducted in this study. We found 47 protein-encoding genes in foxtail millet using BLAST search tools; the putative proteins were classified into four subfamilies, namely, subfamilies I, II, III, and IV. Gene structure and motif analysis indicate that the genes in one subfamily were conserved. Promotor analysis showed that HD-Zip gene was involved in abiotic stress. Duplication analysis revealed that 8 (~17%) hdz genes were tandemly duplicated and 28 (58%) were segmentally duplicated; purifying duplication plays important roles in gene expansion. Microsynteny analysis revealed the maximum relationship in foxtail millet-sorghum and foxtail millet-rice. Expression profiling upon the abiotic stresses of drought and high salinity and the biotic stress of ABA revealed that some genes regulated responses to drought and salinity stresses via an ABA-dependent process, especially sihdz29 and sihdz45. Our study provides new insight into evolutionary and functional analyses of HD-Zip genes involved in environmental stress responses in foxtail millet.

Foxtail

Setaria

Functional divergence

10.1155/2018/8457614

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Citations (33)

Ectopic Overexpression of Maize Heat Stress Transcription Factor ZmHsf05 Confers Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Rice

Genes (2021)

Weina Si Qizhi Liang Li Chen Feiyang Song You Chen

Drought is a key factor affecting plant growth and development. Heat shock transcription factors (Hsfs) have been reported to respond to diverse abiotic stresses, including drought stress. In the present study, functional characterization of maize heat shock transcription factor 05 (ZmHsf05) gene was conducted. Homologous analysis showed that ZmHsf05 belongs to Class A2 Hsfs. The mRNA expression level of ZmHsf05 can be affected by drought, high temperature, salt, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Ectopic overexpression of ZmHsf05 in rice (Oryza sativa) could significantly enhance the drought tolerance. Faced with drought stress, transgenic rice exhibited better phenotypic performance, higher survival rate, higher proline content, and lower leaf water loss rate, compared with wild-type plant Zhonghua11. Additionally, we assessed the agronomic traits of seven transgenic rice lines overexpressing ZmHsf05 and found that ZmHsf05 altered agronomical traits in the field trials. Moreover, rice overexpressing ZmHsf05 was more sensitive to ABA and had either a lower germination rate or shorter shoot length under ABA treatment. The transcription level of key genes in the ABA synthesis and drought-related pathway were significantly improved in transgenic rice after drought stress. Collectively, our results showed that ZmHsf05 could improve drought tolerance in rice, likely in an ABA-dependent manner.

Drought Tolerance

Ectopic expression

Genetically modified rice

Heat shock factor

10.3390/genes12101568

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Citations (13)

Widely distributed hot and cold spots in meiotic recombination as shown by the sequencing of rice F₂ plants

New Phytologist (2015)

Weina Si Yang Yuan Ju Huang Xiaohui Zhang Yanchun Zhang

Summary Numerous studies have argued that environmental variations may contribute to evolution through the generation of novel heritable variations via meiotic recombination, which plays a crucial role in crop domestication and improvement. Rice is one of the most important staple crops, but no direct estimate of recombination events has yet been made at a fine scale. Here, we address this limitation by sequencing 41 rice individuals with high sequencing coverage and c . 900 000 accurate markers. An average of 33.9 crossover ( c . 4.53 cM Mb −1 ) and 2.47 non‐crossover events were detected per F 2 plant, which is similar to the values in Arabidopsis . Although not all samples in the stress treatment group showed an increased number of crossover events, environmental stress increased the recombination rate in c . 28.5% of samples. Interestingly, the crossovers showed a highly uneven distribution among and along chromosomes, with c . 13.9% of the entire genome devoid of crossovers, including 11 of the 12 centromere regions, and c . 0.72% of the genome containing large numbers of crossovers (> 50 cM Mb −1 ). The gene ontology ( GO ) categories showed that genes clustered within the recombination hot spot regions primarily tended to be involved in responses to environmental stimuli, suggesting that recombination plays an important role for adaptive evolution in rapidly changing environments.

10.1111/nph.13319

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Citations (89)

ZmHSFA2B self‐regulatory loop is critical for heat tolerance in maize

Plant Biotechnology Journal (2024)

Nannan Song Jing Wang Qianqian Qin Anqi Su Yifeng Cheng

The growth and development of maize (Zea mays L.) are significantly impeded by prolonged exposure to high temperatures. Heat stress transcription factors (HSFs) play crucial roles in enabling plants to detect and respond to elevated temperatures. However, the genetic mechanisms underlying the responses of HSFs to heat stress in maize remain unclear. Thus, we aimed to investigate the role of ZmHSFA2B in regulating heat tolerance in maize. Here, we report that ZmHSFA2B has two splicing variants, ZmHSFA2B-I and ZmHSFA2B-II. ZmHSFA2B-I encodes full-length ZmHSFA2B (ZmHSFA2B-I), whereas ZmHSFA2B-II encodes a truncated ZmHSFA2B (ZmHSFA2B-II). Overexpression of ZmHSFA2B-I improved heat tolerance in maize and Arabidopsis thaliana, but it also resulted in growth retardation as a side effect. RNA-sequencing and CUT&Tag analyses identified ZmMBR1 as a putative target of ZmHSFA2B-I. Overexpression of ZmMBR1 also enhanced heat tolerance in Arabidopsis. ZmHSFA2B-II was primarily synthesized in response to heat stress and competitively interacted with ZmHSFA2B-I. This interaction consequently reduced the DNA-binding activities of ZmHSFA2B-I homodimers to the promoter of ZmMBR1. Subsequent investigations indicate that ZmHSFA2B-II limits the transactivation and tempers the function of ZmHSFA2B-I, thereby reducing the adverse effects of excessive ZmHSFA2B-I accumulation. Based on these observations, we propose that the alternative splicing of ZmHSFA2B generates a self-regulatory loop that fine-tunes heat stress response in maize.

10.1111/pbi.14497

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Citations (3)

The alternative splicing of ZmHsf23 regulates heat stress tolerance in maize

Jing Wang Nannan Song Qianqian Qin Anqi Su Weina Si

Summary Heat stress is one of the major threats to maize ( Zea mays ) production globally. Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) play vital roles in plant heat stress responses. However, the molecular and genetic basis of HSFs in maize thermotolerance remain largely unknown. In this study, we reveal that the alternative splicing of Hsf23 in maize modulates heat stress tolerance. Hsf23 produces two functional transcripts, the full-length transcript Hsf23b and the heat-inducible transcript Hsf23a . The two Hsf23 transcripts differ by the presence of a cryptic mini exon in Hsf23a , which is spliced out in Hsf23b . Both Hsf23a and Hsf23b were intensely expressed in response to heat stress. The overexpression of Hsf23b , not Hsf23a , enhanced heat stress tolerance, while loss-of-function mutations of Hsf23a and Hsf23b exhibited remarkably increased sensitivity to heat stress. Transcriptome analysis revealed that Hsf23b activates broader heat-responsive genes than Hsf23a, and Hsf23a and Hsf23b modulate heat stress response through different downstream targets. Furthermore, Hsf23a physically interacted with Hsf23b and promotes Hsf23b-regulated expression of sHSP genes. Together, our finding provides new insights into the roles of ZmHsf23 in the heat tolerance in maize, and presents an important candidate for the genetic improvement of heat-tolerant maize varieties.

10.1101/2024.04.28.591503

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