ZmAAO3-1;AAO3-q

Gene Details

To characterize the regulatory mechanism of ZmWRKY79, the promoters of two maize AAO3 genes (ZmAAO3-1 and ZmAAO3-5) were cloned and analyzed through the promoter–reporter system in maize protoplast. The co-transfection of ZmWRKY79 significantly elevated the promoter activities of ZmAAO3 genes.
Further analysis identified one W-box element in the ZmAAO3-1 promoter and two W-boxes in the ZmAAO3-5 promoter. Mutation of the W-box in the ZmAAO3-1 promoter situated at −530 to −536 bp drastically compromised the activation of ZmWRKY79, indicating that ZmWRKY79 activated ZmAAO3-1 gene expression through acting on this W-box.
We detected the expression of ZmAAO3-1 and ZmAAO3-5 in silenced maize plants under normal and drought conditions. The results showed that the expression of AAO3 genes was increased in GFP plants with drought treatment, while the induction was compromised in W79-VIGS plants.