AUTHOR=Liu Yang , Liang Jianan , Sun Liping , Yang Xinghong , Li Dequan 

TITLE=Group 3 LEA Protein, ZmLEA3, Is Involved in Protection from Low Temperature Stress

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=7

YEAR=2016

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2016.01011

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2016.01011

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are a family of small highly hydrophilic proteins that accumulate at the onset of seed desiccation and in response to adverse conditions such as drought, salinity, low temperature, or water deficit. In previous studies, we demonstrated that ZmLEA3 could enhance the transgenic tobacco tolerance to osmotic and oxidative stresses. Here, we demonstrated that the transcription of <italic>ZmLEA3</italic> in the maize stems could be significantly induced by low temperature and osmotic stresses and by treatment with abscisic acid (ABA) and H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>. Further study indicated that ZmLEA3 is a single copy gene in the maize genome. The ZmLEA3 protein could protect lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity at low temperatures. The overexpression of <italic>ZmLEA3</italic> conferred tolerance to low-temperature stress to transgenic tobacco, yeast (GS115) and <italic>E. coli</italic> (BL21).</p>