Characterization of a maize ERF gene, <Emphasis Type="Italic">ZmERF1,</Emphasis> in hormone and stress responses

ERFs are downstream component in ethylene signaling pathway and involved in plant’s abiotic stress response. The specific role of ERFs under stress and the molecular mechanism underlying the signaling cross talk still need to be elucidated. This study describes the isolation and characterization of ZmERF1 promoter. There were many cis-regulatory elements related to stress responses in the ZmERF1 promoter sequence. ZmERF1 could be highly induced by ABA and ethylene treatment in maize, suggesting that it might be at the crossroads of multiple hormone signaling pathways. Furthermore, ZmERF1 transgenic Arabidopsis lines (35S::ZmERF1) showed higher salt-tolerant, drought- and heat resistance. Consistently, tolerance-related genes were up-regulated in 35S::ZmERF1 lines compared with the WT plants in Arabidopsis. Overall, ZmERF1 might play an important role in plant resistance to a coercive environment by mediating various physiological processes via ethylene and ABA signaling pathways.