ZmbHLH30 Enhances Cold Tolerance During Maize Germination

TL;DR

This study identifies the ZmbHLH30 gene as a key player in improving cold tolerance during maize germination, offering potential for breeding cold-resistant crops.

Contribution

The discovery of ZmbHLH30 as a novel gene regulating cold tolerance in maize germination.

Findings

Overexpression of ZmbHLH30 increases cold tolerance during germination, with a D-value increase of 0.366.

CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of ZmbHLH30 reduces cold tolerance, with a D-value decrease of 0.399.

Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses confirm ZmbHLH30 as a key regulator of cold tolerance in maize.

Abstract

Low temperature is a major abiotic stress that affects maize across its entire growth cycle, with the germination stage being particularly sensitive. To investigate the genetic basis of early-stage cold tolerance, we used quantitative trait locus mapping and identified ZmbHLH30 as a candidate gene regulating maize responses to low temperature. The ZmbHLH30 protein is localized in the cytoplasm of maize protoplasts, and ZmbHLH30 promoter drives β-glucuronidase (GUS) expression in Arabidopsis thaliana leaves. The promoter region of ZmbHLH30 contains multiple environmental stress-responsive elements, including motifs associated with cold and auxin responses. Overexpression of ZmbHLH30 significantly enhanced cold tolerance at the germination, bud, and seedling stages, with the strongest effect observed during germination, where the cold-tolerance D-value increased by 0.366 relative to the control. In contrast, CRISPR/Cas9 knockout lines showed a 0.399 decrease in D-value. Under cold stress, ZmbHLH30 expression was markedly induced in overexpression lines but suppressed in knockout lines. Integrated transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses further identified ZmbHLH30 as a key regulator of cold tolerance in maize.

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