Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stress
Abstract Background Flavonoids are crucial for plant growth, development, and stress responses. Chalcone synthase (CHS) is a key enzyme in flavonoid biosynthesis, but its role in maize remains unclear. This study aims to dissect the gene structure, evolution, regulatory elements, and expression patt...
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BMC
2025-07-01
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| Series: | BMC Genomics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11761-0 |
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| author | Xiaofang Wang Jing Wu Huangai Li Lei Zhu Yan Long |
| author_facet | Xiaofang Wang Jing Wu Huangai Li Lei Zhu Yan Long |
| author_sort | Xiaofang Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Flavonoids are crucial for plant growth, development, and stress responses. Chalcone synthase (CHS) is a key enzyme in flavonoid biosynthesis, but its role in maize remains unclear. This study aims to dissect the gene structure, evolution, regulatory elements, and expression pattern under abiotic stress of the CHS gene family in maize, providing insights into its metabolic regulation and stress response mechanisms. Results This study identified the CHS gene family members based on maize genomic data. We analyzed their gene structures, evolutionary relationships, cis-regulatory elements, conserved motifs, tissue expression patterns, and expression profiles under various abiotic stress treatments. Furthermore, through KEGG and GO enrichment analyses, we further explored the biological diversity of the CHS gene family and its potential regulatory roles in the maize secondary metabolism network. Then, the ZmCHS25 gene was selected as a representative for functional analysis. We investigated the metabolic regulatory mechanisms during the salt stress response by constructing gene knockout mutants and combining untargeted metabolomics analysis. The results showed that its loss of function led to a dramatic decrease in flavonoid synthesis. The knockout of ZmCHS25 disrupted the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway and impaired the osmotic regulation ability of plant cells, ultimately leading to a significant reduction under salt stress conditions. Conclusions The results reveal the evolutionary characteristics of the maize CHS gene family and clarify its metabolic regulation mechanism in response to salt stress. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3d1a66dbda154533abcde7eb53a1440c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1471-2164 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
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| series | BMC Genomics |
| spelling | doaj-art-3d1a66dbda154533abcde7eb53a1440c2025-08-20T04:01:18ZengBMCBMC Genomics1471-21642025-07-0126111910.1186/s12864-025-11761-0Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stressXiaofang Wang0Jing Wu1Huangai Li2Lei Zhu3Yan Long4Research Institute of Biology and Agriculture, Beijing Key Laboratory of Corn Biological Breeding, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology BeijingResearch Institute of Biology and Agriculture, Beijing Key Laboratory of Corn Biological Breeding, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology BeijingResearch Institute of Biology and Agriculture, Beijing Key Laboratory of Corn Biological Breeding, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology BeijingResearch Institute of Biology and Agriculture, Beijing Key Laboratory of Corn Biological Breeding, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology BeijingResearch Institute of Biology and Agriculture, Beijing Key Laboratory of Corn Biological Breeding, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology BeijingAbstract Background Flavonoids are crucial for plant growth, development, and stress responses. Chalcone synthase (CHS) is a key enzyme in flavonoid biosynthesis, but its role in maize remains unclear. This study aims to dissect the gene structure, evolution, regulatory elements, and expression pattern under abiotic stress of the CHS gene family in maize, providing insights into its metabolic regulation and stress response mechanisms. Results This study identified the CHS gene family members based on maize genomic data. We analyzed their gene structures, evolutionary relationships, cis-regulatory elements, conserved motifs, tissue expression patterns, and expression profiles under various abiotic stress treatments. Furthermore, through KEGG and GO enrichment analyses, we further explored the biological diversity of the CHS gene family and its potential regulatory roles in the maize secondary metabolism network. Then, the ZmCHS25 gene was selected as a representative for functional analysis. We investigated the metabolic regulatory mechanisms during the salt stress response by constructing gene knockout mutants and combining untargeted metabolomics analysis. The results showed that its loss of function led to a dramatic decrease in flavonoid synthesis. The knockout of ZmCHS25 disrupted the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway and impaired the osmotic regulation ability of plant cells, ultimately leading to a significant reduction under salt stress conditions. Conclusions The results reveal the evolutionary characteristics of the maize CHS gene family and clarify its metabolic regulation mechanism in response to salt stress.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11761-0MaizeCHS gene familyGene identificationSalt stressUntargeted metabolomics |
| spellingShingle | Xiaofang Wang Jing Wu Huangai Li Lei Zhu Yan Long Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stress BMC Genomics Maize CHS gene family Gene identification Salt stress Untargeted metabolomics |
| title | Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stress |
| title_full | Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stress |
| title_fullStr | Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stress |
| title_full_unstemmed | Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stress |
| title_short | Genome-wide identification, evolution, and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize CHS gene family under abiotic stress |
| title_sort | genome wide identification evolution and expression and metabolic regulation of the maize chs gene family under abiotic stress |
| topic | Maize CHS gene family Gene identification Salt stress Untargeted metabolomics |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11761-0 |
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