The Maize Gene ZmGLYI-8 Confers Salt and Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants

Methylglyoxal (MG), a highly reactive and cytotoxic α-oxoaldehyde compound, can over-accumulate under abiotic stress, consequently injuring plants or even causing death. Glyoxalase I (GLYI), the first enzyme of the glyoxalase pathway, plays multiple roles in the detoxification of MG and in abiotic stress responses. However, the gene in maize has been little studied in response to abiotic stress. In this study, we screened a glyoxalase I gene ( ) and overexpressed in . This gene was localized in the cytoplasm and can be induced in maize seedlings under multiple stress treatments, including salt, drought, MG, ABA, H O and high temperature stress. Phenotypic analysis revealed that after MG, salt and drought stress treatments, overexpression of increased the tolerance of transgenic to MG, salt and drought stress. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the overexpression of scavenges accumulated reactive oxygen species, detoxifies MG and enhances the activity of antioxidant enzymes to improve the resistance of transgenic plants to salt and drought stress. In summary, this study preliminarily elucidates the molecular mechanism of the maize gene in transgenic and provides new insight into the breeding of salt- and drought-tolerant maize varieties.