Increasing plant density is an effective way to enhance maize yield, but often increases lodging rate and severity, significantly elevating the risk and cost of maize production. Therefore, lodging is a major factor r...Increasing plant density is an effective way to enhance maize yield, but often increases lodging rate and severity, significantly elevating the risk and cost of maize production. Therefore, lodging is a major factor restricting future increases in maize yield through high-density planting. This paper reviewed previous research on the relationships between maize lodging rate and plant morphology, mechanical strength of stalks, anatomical and biochemical characteristics of stalks, root characteristics, damage from pests and diseases, environmental factors, and genomic characteristics. The effects of planting density on these factors and explored possible ways to improve lodging resistance were also analyzed in this paper. The results provide a basis for future research on increasing maize lodging resistance under high-density planting conditions and can be used to develop maize cultivation practices and lodging-resistant maize cultivars.展开更多
Lodging under nitrogen (N)-Iuxury conditions substantially reduces crop yield and seed quality. However, the molecular mechanisms of plant lodging resistance remain largely unclear, especially in maize. We report he...Lodging under nitrogen (N)-Iuxury conditions substantially reduces crop yield and seed quality. However, the molecular mechanisms of plant lodging resistance remain largely unclear, especially in maize. We report here that the expression of ZmmiR528, a monocot-specific microRNA, is induced by N luxury but reduced by N deficiency. We show by the thioacidolysis and acetyl bromide analysis that N luxury signifi- cantly reduces the generation of H, G, and S monomers of the lignin as well as its total content in maize shoots. We further demonstrate that ZmLACCASE3 (ZmLAC3) and ZmLACCASE5 (ZmLAC5), which encode the copper-containing laccases, are the targets of ZmmiR528. In situ hybridization showed that ZmmiR528 is mainly expressed in maize vascular tissues. Knockdown of ZmmiR528 or overexpression of ZmLAC3 significantly increased the lignin content and rind penetrometer resistance of maize stems. In contrast, transgenic maize plants overexpressing ZmmiR528 had reduced lignin content and rind penetrometer resistance and were prone to lodging under N-luxury conditions. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that ZmPAL7 and ZmPAL8 are upregulated in transgenic maize lines downregulating ZmmiR528. Under N-lux- ury conditions, the expression levels of ZmPALs were much higher in ZmmiR528-knockdown lines than in the wild type and transgenic maize lines overexpressing ZmmiR528. Taken together, these results indicate that, by regulating the expression of ZmLAC3 and ZmLAC5, ZmmiR528 affects maize lodging resistance un- der N-luxury conditions.展开更多
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2015CB150401)the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0300101)the National Maize Industrial Technology System, China
文摘Increasing plant density is an effective way to enhance maize yield, but often increases lodging rate and severity, significantly elevating the risk and cost of maize production. Therefore, lodging is a major factor restricting future increases in maize yield through high-density planting. This paper reviewed previous research on the relationships between maize lodging rate and plant morphology, mechanical strength of stalks, anatomical and biochemical characteristics of stalks, root characteristics, damage from pests and diseases, environmental factors, and genomic characteristics. The effects of planting density on these factors and explored possible ways to improve lodging resistance were also analyzed in this paper. The results provide a basis for future research on increasing maize lodging resistance under high-density planting conditions and can be used to develop maize cultivation practices and lodging-resistant maize cultivars.
文摘Lodging under nitrogen (N)-Iuxury conditions substantially reduces crop yield and seed quality. However, the molecular mechanisms of plant lodging resistance remain largely unclear, especially in maize. We report here that the expression of ZmmiR528, a monocot-specific microRNA, is induced by N luxury but reduced by N deficiency. We show by the thioacidolysis and acetyl bromide analysis that N luxury signifi- cantly reduces the generation of H, G, and S monomers of the lignin as well as its total content in maize shoots. We further demonstrate that ZmLACCASE3 (ZmLAC3) and ZmLACCASE5 (ZmLAC5), which encode the copper-containing laccases, are the targets of ZmmiR528. In situ hybridization showed that ZmmiR528 is mainly expressed in maize vascular tissues. Knockdown of ZmmiR528 or overexpression of ZmLAC3 significantly increased the lignin content and rind penetrometer resistance of maize stems. In contrast, transgenic maize plants overexpressing ZmmiR528 had reduced lignin content and rind penetrometer resistance and were prone to lodging under N-luxury conditions. RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that ZmPAL7 and ZmPAL8 are upregulated in transgenic maize lines downregulating ZmmiR528. Under N-lux- ury conditions, the expression levels of ZmPALs were much higher in ZmmiR528-knockdown lines than in the wild type and transgenic maize lines overexpressing ZmmiR528. Taken together, these results indicate that, by regulating the expression of ZmLAC3 and ZmLAC5, ZmmiR528 affects maize lodging resistance un- der N-luxury conditions.