maize
not annotated - annotated - LINNAEUS only
20880205
Factors required for the high CO2 specificity of the anaerobically induced maize GapC4 promoter in transgenic tobacco.
Flooding, a natural cause of anaerobiosis, is often accompanied by high CO(2) concentrations in the flood water. Plants need to respond to these environmental conditions. Strong anaerobic reporter gene activity in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) controlled by the glycolytic glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GapC4) promoter from maize (Zea mays) depends on the presence of CO(2) and light. To identify factors required for CO(2) regulated gene expression, promoter deletions fused to the Beta-glucuronidase reporter gene were studied in transgenic tobacco. Deletion of a 40 bp fragment directly upstream of the TATA box leads to increased anaerobic reporter gene activity both, in the presence and absence of CO(2). This deletion does not affect light specific anaerobic expression. A positive correlation between increasing CO(2) concentrations and gene activity is observed. Electrophoretic mobility shift experiments indicate that tobacco nuclear extracts harbour proteins that bind to part of the 40 bp fragment. Database assisted as well as experimental analysis reveal a role for AP2/EREBP transcription factors for conferring the high CO(2) specificity to the GapC4 promoter in tobacco leaves. This work highlights the importance for plants to respond to high environmental CO(2) concentrations under anaerobic conditions.
20887797
The FvMK1 mitogen-activated protein kinase gene regulates conidiation, pathogenesis, and fumonisin production in Fusarium verticillioides.
Fusarium verticillioides is one of the most important fungal pathogens to cause destructive diseases of maize worldwide. Fumonisins produced by the fungus are harmful to human and animal health. To date, our understanding of the molecular mechanisms associated with pathogenicity and fumonisin biosynthesis in F. verticillioides is limited. Because MAP kinase pathways have been implicated in regulating diverse processes important for plant infection in phytopathogenic fungi, in this study we identified and functionally characterized the FvMK1 gene in F. verticillioides. FvMK1 is orthologous to FMK1 in F. oxysporum and GPMK1 in F. graminearum. The Fvmk1 deletion mutant was reduced in vegetative growth and production of microconidia. However, it was normal in sexual reproduction and increased in the production of macroconidia. In infection assays with developing corn kernels, the Fvmk1 mutant was non-pathogenic and failed to colonize through wounding sites. It also failed to cause stalk rot symptoms beyond the inoculation sites on corn stalks, indicating that FvMK1 is essential for plant infection. Furthermore, the Fvmk1 mutant was significantly reduced in fumonisin production and expression levels of FUM1 and FUM8, two genes involved in fumonisin biosynthesis. The defects of the Fvmk1 mutant were fully complemented by re-introducing the wild type FvMK1 allele. These results demonstrate that FvMK1 plays critical roles in the regulation of vegetative growth, asexual reproduction, fumonisin biosynthesis, and pathogenicity.
20946131
Host plant secondary metabolite profiling shows a complex, strain-dependent response of maize to plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria of the genus Azospirillum.
Most Azospirillum plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) benefit plant growth through source effects related to free nitrogen fixation and/or phytohormone production, but little is known about their potential effects on plant physiology. These effects were assessed by comparing the early impacts of three Azospirillum inoculant strains on secondary metabolite profiles of two different maize (Zea mays) cultivars. After 10d of growth in nonsterile soil, maize methanolic extracts were analyzed by reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) and secondary metabolites identified by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Seed inoculation resulted in increased shoot biomass (and also root biomass with one strain) of hybrid PR37Y15 but had no stimulatory effect on hybrid DK315. In parallel, Azospirillum inoculation led to major qualitative and quantitative modifications of the contents of secondary metabolites, especially benzoxazinoids, in the maize plants. These modifications depended on the PGPR strainxplant cultivar combination. Thus, Azospirillum inoculation resulted in early, strain-dependent modifications in the biosynthetic pathways of benzoxazine derivatives in maize in compatible interactions. This is the first study documenting a PGPR effect on plant secondary metabolite profiles, and suggests the establishment of complex interactions between Azospirillum PGPR and maize.
21039559
Systemic virus-induced gene silencing allows functional characterization of maize genes during biotrophic interaction with Ustilago maydis.
Infection of maize (Zea mays) plants with the corn smut fungus Ustilago maydis leads to the formation of large tumors on the stem, leaves and inflorescences. In this biotrophic interaction, plant defense responses are actively suppressed by the pathogen, and previous transcriptome analyses of infected maize plants showed massive and stage-specific changes in host gene expression during disease progression. To identify maize genes that are functionally involved in the interaction with U. maydis, we adapted a virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) system based on the brome mosaic virus (BMV) for maize. Conditions were established that allowed successful U. maydis infection of BMV-preinfected maize plants. This set-up enabled quantification of VIGS and its impact on U. maydis infection using a quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR)-based readout. In proof-of-principle experiments, an U. maydis-induced terpene synthase was shown to negatively regulate disease development while a protein involved in cell death inhibition was required for full virulence of U. maydis. The results suggest that this system is a versatile tool for the rapid identification of maize genes that determine compatibility with U. maydis.
20840609
Mannitol permeation and radial flow of water in maize roots.
* The postulated nonselective hydraulic route through the root apoplast has not yet been supported by experimental findings on solvent drag. * Therefore, mannitol transport from the medium to the shoot of young maize plants was studied at different rates of transpiration in hydroculture. The concentration of mannitol was determined by gas chromatography. * Mannitol utilization in shoot metabolism was not detectable. Experiments with exuding roots showed that the radial transport of mannitol was mainly apoplastic. The ratio alpha between the mannitol concentration in xylem vessels and that of the external medium was calculated from mannitol translocation to the shoot or measurement of the mannitol concentration in the root exudate, where it reached c. 0.07 in the steady state. In transpiring plants, alpha decreased with increasing water flux from 0.04 to values below 0.01. These findings demonstrate that the root reflection coefficient for mannitol is above 0.99. * It is concluded that the radial movement of water to the vessels is under complete protoplastic control, whereas solutes can diffuse on an apoplastic path. The absence of a significant volume flux through the root apoplast is of physiological importance as it prevents the coupling of the apoplastic permeation of ballast solutes, such as NaCl, to transpiration.
21054434
Acclimation to high CO2 in maize is related to water status and dependent on leaf rank.
The responses of C(3) plants to rising atmospheric CO(2) levels are considered to be largely dependent on effects exerted through altered photosynthesis. In contrast, the nature of the responses of C(4) plants to high CO(2) remains controversial because of the absence of CO(2) -dependent effects on photosynthesis. In this study, the effects of atmospheric CO(2) availability on the transcriptome, proteome and metabolome profiles of two ranks of source leaves in maize (Zea mays L.) were studied in plants grown under ambient CO(2) conditions (350 +/- 20 muL L(-1) CO(2) ) or with CO(2) enrichment (700 +/- 20 muL L(-1) CO(2) ). Growth at high CO(2) had no effect on photosynthesis, photorespiration, leaf C/N ratios or anthocyanin contents. However, leaf transpiration rates, carbohydrate metabolism and protein carbonyl accumulation were altered at high CO(2) in a leaf-rank specific manner. Although no significant CO(2) -dependent changes in the leaf transcriptome were observed, qPCR analysis revealed that the abundance of transcripts encoding a Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor and a serpin were changed by the growth CO(2) level in a leaf rank specific manner. Moreover, CO(2) -dependent changes in the leaf proteome were most evident in the oldest source leaves. Small changes in water status may be responsible for the observed responses to high CO(2,) particularly in the older leaf ranks.
21529147
Growth inhibition of Beauveria bassiana by bacteria isolated from the cuticular surface of the corn leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis and the planthopper, Delphacodes kuscheli, two important vectors of maize pathogens.
The phytosanitary importance of the corn leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis (De Long and Wolcott) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) and the planthopper, Delphacodes kuscheli Fennah (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) lies in their ability to transmit phloem-associated plant pathogens, mainly viruses and mollicutes, and to cause considerable mechanical damage to corn plants during feeding and oviposition. Fungi, particularly some members of the Ascomycota, are likely candidates for biocontrol agents against these insect pests, but several studies revealed their failure to invade the insect cuticle possibly because of the presence of inhibitory compounds such as phenols, quinones, and lipids and also by the antibiosis effect of the microbiota living on the cuticular surface of the host. The present work aims to understand interactions between the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Balsamao-Crivelli) Vuillemin (Hypocreales: Cordycipitaceae) and bacterial antagonists isolated from the cuticular surface of D. maidis and D. kuscheli. A total of 155 bacterial isolates were recovered from the insect's cuticle and tested against B. bassiana. Ninety-one out of 155 strains inhibited the growth of B. bassiana. Bacterial strains isolated from D. maidis were significantly more antagonistic against B. bassiana than those isolates from D. kuscheli. Among the most effective antagonistic strains, six isolates of Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner (Bacillales: Bacillaeae (after B. subtilis)), one isolate of B. mycoides Flugge, eight isolates of B. megaterium de Bary, five isolates of B.pumilus Meyer and Gottheil, one isolate of B. licheniformis (Weigmann) Chester, and four isolates of B. subtilis (Ehrenberg) Cohn were identified.
21601644
Analysis of the Fusarium graminearum species complex from wheat, barley and maize in South Africa provides evidence of species-specific differences in host preference.
Species identity and trichothecene toxin potential of 560 members of the Fusarium graminearum species complex (FGSC) collected from diseased wheat, barley and maize in South Africa was determined using a microsphere-based multilocus genotyping assay. Although three trichothecene types (3-ADON, 15-ADON and NIV) were represented among these isolates, strains with the 15-ADON type predominated on all three hosts. A significant difference, however, was identified in the composition of FGSC pathogens associated with Gibberella ear rot (GER) of maize as compared to Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat or barley (P<0.001). F. graminearum accounted for more than 85% of the FGSC isolates associated with FHB of wheat and barley (N=425), and was also the dominant species among isolates from maize roots (N=35). However, with the exception of a single isolate identified as an interspecific hybrid between Fusariumboothii and F. graminearum, GER of maize (N=100) was exclusively associated with F. boothii. The predominance of F. graminearum among FHB isolates, and the near exclusivity of F. boothii among GER isolates, was observed across all cultivars, collection dates, and provinces sampled. Because these results suggest a difference in host preference among species of the FGSC, we hypothesize that F. graminearum may be less well adapted to infect maize ears than other members of the FGSC.
21526933
Parasitism of lepidopterous stem borers in cultivated and natural habitats.
Plant infestation, stem borer density, parasitism, and parasitoid abundance were assessed during two years in two host plants, Zea mays (L.) (Cyperales: Poaceae) and Sorghum bicolor (L.) (Cyperales: Poaceae), in cultivated habitats. The four major host plants (Cyperus spp., Panicum spp., Pennisetum spp., and Sorghum spp.) found in natural habitats were also assessed, and both the cultivated and natural habitat species occurred in four agroecological zones in Kenya. Across habitats, plant infestation (23.2%), stem borer density (2.2 per plant), and larval parasitism (15.0%) were highest in maize in cultivated habitats. Pupal parasitism was not higher than 4.7% in both habitats, and did not vary with locality during each season or with host plant between each season. Cotesia sesamiae (Cameron) and C. flavipes Cameron (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) were the key parasitoids in cultivated habitats (both species accounted for 76.4% of parasitized stem borers in cereal crops), but not in natural habitats (the two Cotesia species accounted for 14.5% of parasitized stem borers in wild host plants). No single parasitoid species exerted high parasitism rates on stem borer populations in wild host plants. Low stem borer densities across seasons in natural habitats indicate that cereal stem borer pests do not necessarily survive the non-cropping season feeding actively in wild host plants. Although natural habitats provided refuges for some parasitoid species, stem borer parasitism was generally low in wild host plants. Overall, because parasitoids contribute little in reducing cereal stem borer pest populations in cultivated habitats, there is need to further enhance their effectiveness in the field to regulate these pests.