Maize Ethylene Response Factor ZmERF061 Is Required for Resistance to Exserohilum turcicum

Plants have evolved a series of sophisticated defense mechanisms to help them from harm. Ethylene Response Factor (ERF) plays pivotal roles in plant immune reactions, however, its underlying mechanism in maize with a defensive function to ( ) remains poorly understood. Here, we isolated and characterized a novel ERF transcription factor, designated , from maize. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ZmERF061 is a member of B3 group in the ERF family. qRT-PCR assays showed that the expression of is significantly induced by inoculation and hormone treatments with salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). ZmERF061 was proved to function as a nucleus-localized transcription activator and specifically bind to the GCC-box element. mutant lines resulted in enhanced susceptibility to via decreasing the expression of and and the activity of antioxidant defense system. mutant lines increased the expression of the SA signaling-related gene and decreased the expression of the jasmonic acid (JA) signaling-related gene after infection with . In addition, ZmERF061 could interact with ZmMPK6-1. These results suggested that ZmERF061 plays an important role in response to and may be useful in genetic engineering breeding.