Drought is a main factor affecting plant growth and crop production. APETALA2/Ethylene Responsive Element Binding Protein (AP2/EREBP) transcription factors (TFs) are involved in the response to abiotic stress and their functions in ABA signaling and the regulation of drought response have been intensively studied. However, AP2/EREBP TFs have been limited in the maize. The objective of our study was to identify the function of the novel maize AP2/EREBP gene ZmEREB160. Expression levels analysis in maize revealed that ZmEREB160 is significantly induced by PEG6000, NaCl and ABA treatment. ZmEREB160 localized to the nucleus when transiently expressed in Arabidopsis leaf protoplasts. ZmEREB160 activated the reporter gene and exhibited transcriptional activation activity in yeast cells. When overexpression of ZmEREB160 in Arabidopsis significantly enhanced tolerance to osmotic and ABA stress, overexpressed seedlings were longer roots under ABA and mannitol treatments compared with wild type. In addition, overexpression of ZmEREB160 Arabidopsis seedlings was found to elevate survival rate compared with wild type plants under drought stress. During the drought treatment, qRT-PCR assays showed that the expression levels of ABA/drought stress-related genes, ABI2, ABI5, COR15, DREB2A and RD29B were up-regulated in ZmEREB160 transgenic plants, transgenic plants accumulated more proline content than wild type plants. These results indicate that ZmEREB160 functions in response to drought and ABA stresses, and participates in ABA signaling pathway and may enhance drought tolerance.

中文翻译：

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玉米AP2 / EREBP转录因子ZmEREB160增强拟南芥的耐旱性

干旱是影响植物生长和农作物产量的主要因素。APETALA2 /乙烯响应元件结合蛋白（AP2 / EREBP）转录因子（TFs）参与了对非生物胁迫的响应，并且它们在ABA信号传导中的功能以及干旱响应的调控已得到深入研究。但是，AP2 / EREBP TF在玉米中受到限制。本研究的目的是鉴定新型玉米AP2 / EREBP基因ZmEREB160的功能。玉米中的表达水平分析表明ZmEREB160被PEG6000，NaCl和ABA处理显着诱导。在拟南芥中瞬时表达时，ZmEREB160定位于细胞核叶原生质体。ZmEREB160激活了报告基因，并在酵母细胞中表现出转录激活活性。当过表达ZmEREB160在拟南芥显著增强的耐受性，以渗透和ABA应力，过度表达幼苗下与野生型相比，脱落酸和甘露醇治疗更长的根。此外，与干旱胁迫下的野生型植物相比，ZmEREB160拟南芥幼苗的过表达可以提高存活率。在干旱处理中，qRT-PCR分析显示ABA /干旱胁迫相关基因ABI2，ABI5，COR15，DREB2A和RD29B的表达水平在ZmEREB160转基因植物中上调了蛋白，转基因植物比野生型植物积累了更多的脯氨酸含量。这些结果表明ZmEREB160响应干旱和ABA胁迫而起作用，并参与ABA信号传导途径，并可能增强干旱耐受性。