Mapping the gene of a maize leaf senescence mutant and understanding the senescence pathways by expression analysis

Key messagesNarrowing down to a single putative target gene behind a leaf senescence mutant and constructing the regulation network by proteomic method.Leaf senescence mutant is an important resource for exploring molecular mechanism of aging. To dig for potential modulation networks during maize leaf aging process, we delimited the gene responsible for a premature leaf senescence mutant els5 to a 1.1 Mb interval in the B73 reference genome using a BC1F1 population with 40,000 plants, and analyzed the leaf proteomics of the mutant and its near-isogenic wild type line. A total of 1355 differentially accumulated proteins (DAP) were mainly enriched in regulation pathways such as photosynthesis, ribosome, and porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism by the KEGG pathway analysis. The interaction networks constructed by incorporation of transcriptome data showed that ZmELS5 likely repaired several key factors in the photosynthesis system. The putative candidate proteins for els5 were proposed based on DAPs in the fined QTL mapping interval. These results provide fundamental basis for cloning and functional research of the els5 gene, and new insights into the molecular mechanism of leaf senescence in maize.

Automated summary

Narrowing down a single putative target gene and constructing the regulation network by proteomic method for a leaf senescence mutant. Leaf senescence mutant is an important resource for exploring molecular mechanism of aging. Proteomics analysis of the mutant and its wild type revealed differentially accumulated proteins mainly enriched in regulation pathways such as photosynthesis, ribosome, and chlorophyll metabolism. The interaction networks constructed by transcriptome data showed that ZmELS5 likely repaired several key factors in the photosynthesis system. These results provide a fundamental basis and new insights for further research on the molecular mechanism of leaf senescence in maize.