The chromatin remodeler ZmCHB101 impacts expression of osmotic stress-responsive genes in maize

The maize chromatin remodeler ZmCHB101 plays an essential role in the osmotic stress response. ZmCHB101 controls nucleosome densities around transcription start sites of essential stress-responsive genes. Drought and osmotic stresses are recurring conditions that severely constrain crop production. Evidence accumulated in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana suggests that core components of SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes play essential roles in abiotic stress responses. However, how maize SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complexes function in osmotic and drought stress responses remains unknown. Here we show that ZmCHB101, a homolog of A. thaliana SWI3D in maize, plays essential roles in osmotic and dehydration stress responses. ZmCHB101-RNA interference (RNAi) transgenic plants displayed osmotic, salt and drought stress-sensitive phenotypes. Genome-wide RNA-sequencing analysis revealed that ZmCHB101 impacts the transcriptional expression landscape of osmotic stress-responsive genes. Intriguingly, ZmCHB101 controls nucleosome densities around transcription start sites of essential stress-responsive genes. Furthermore, we identified that ZmCHB101 associates with RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) in vivo and is a prerequisite for the proper occupancy of RNAPII on the proximal regions of transcription start sites of stress-response genes. Taken together, our findings suggest that ZmCHB101 affects gene expression by remodeling chromatin states and controls RNAPII occupancies in maize under osmotic stress.