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J Integr Plant Biol.

• Research Article •    

ZmSnRK2.10-mediated phosphorylation of ZmDNL1 attenuates ZmYAB15 activity to enhance drought resilience in maize

Aifang Ma1†*, Yuanpeng Qi1,2,3†, Yuemei Zhang1, Yu Wang1, Xiaoying Hu1,4, Jingrong Li1, He Ma1, Zhihui Sun1, Shan Jiang1, Zhenkai Feng1, Junsheng Qi1, Shuhua Yang1 and Zhizhong Gong1,4*   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Plant Environmental Resilience, Frontiers Science Center for Molecular Design Breeding, Center for Crop Functional Genomics and Molecular Breeding, College of Biological Sciences, the China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
    2. Department of Urology, South China Hospital, Medical School, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518116, China
    3. Guangdong Key Laboratory for Biomedical Measurements and Ultrasound Imaging, National‐Regional Key Technology Engineering Laboratory for Medical Ultrasound, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen University Medical School, Shenzhen 518060, China
    4. College of Life Sciences, Institute of Life Science and Green Development, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China

    †These authors contributed equally to this work.
    *Correspondences: Aifang Ma (maaifang@cau.edu.cn); Zhizhong Gong (gongzz@cau.edu.cn, Dr. Gong is fully responsible for the distribution of all materials associated with this article)
  • Received:2025-06-29 Accepted:2025-08-23 Online:2025-10-01
  • Supported by:
    This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFF1001600), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (5244040), STI2030-Major Projects (2030ZD0407101), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M723435).

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Abstract: Drought stress represents a critical challenge to global agriculture, severely compromising plant growth and crop productivity through its disruption of intracellular signaling networks, with particular emphasis on protein kinase-mediated pathways and transcriptional regulation. In this study, we identified and characterized ZmDNL1 as a novel transcriptional regulator that serves as a negative modulator of drought tolerance in maize. Through comprehensive biochemical analyses, we demonstrated that ZmDNL1 physically interacts with ZmYAB15, a known negative regulator of drought tolerance, and potentiates its transcriptional regulatory activity. Most significantly, our investigation revealed that ZmSnRK2.10-mediated phosphorylation of three specific N-terminal residues in ZmDNL1 effectively attenuates ZmYAB15's transcriptional activity while maintaining the structural integrity of the ZmDNL1-ZmYAB15 protein complex, ultimately enhancing drought tolerance. These findings elucidate a previously unrecognized regulatory mechanism in which ZmSnRK2.10 orchestrates drought tolerance through phosphorylation-dependent fine tuning of the ZmDNL1–ZmYAB15 transcriptional regulatory module. Beyond advancing our fundamental understanding of drought response mechanisms in maize, this study provides valuable molecular targets for precision breeding strategies aimed at developing drought-resilient crop varieties.

Key words: drought response, maize, phosphorylation, transcription regulator, ZmDNL1, ZmSnRK2.10, ZmYAB15

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