The effects of high temperature stress on the normal growth and yield of plants is more and more serious. To adapt the changes of external environment, plants "/>
The effects of high temperature stress on the normal growth and yield of plants is more and more serious. To adapt the changes of external environment, plants have evolved a series of molecular genetic mechanisms to respond to high temperature stress. The calcineurin B-like protein (CBL) interacting protein kinase (CIPK) is actively involved in response to high temperature stress depended on ABA signal transduction pathway in plants. Based on previous genome-wide association analysis, a candidate gene ZmCIPKHT related to maize high temperature tolerance was cloned in this study. Real-time quantitative PCR results showed that ZmCIPKHT gene was significantly induced by high temperature stress. Transient transformation of maize protoplasts revealed that ZmCIPKHT was localized in the nucleus. Overexpressing ZmCIPKHT plants of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana had significantly higher survival rate and better growth status than wild type under high temperature stress. The yeast two-hybrid experiment confirmed that the interaction between ZmCIPKHT protein and ZmCBL4 protein in maize CBLs family. The relative expression levels of genes related to abscisic acid (ABA) pathway in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana with ZmCIPKHT under high temperature stress were changed accordingly, indicating that the regulations of ZmCIPKHT genes under high temperature stress were in the ABA-dependent pathway. These results provide a new experimental basis for elucidating the molecular mechanism of maize CBL-CIPK signaling pathway dependent on ABA pathway to abiotic stress in plants.
