Overexpression of maize MYB-IF35 increases chilling tolerance in Arabidopsis

Chilling stress is a critical environmental factor that limits plant growth, yield and distribution. Maize (Zea mays L.) is an important food and forage crop, and industrial raw material, in China. Low temperatures can decrease maize production, especially in early spring. The R2R3-MYB transcription factor ZmMYB-IF35 was isolated from maize cDNA. The open reading frame of ZmMYB-IF35 is 1038 bp, encoding 345 amino acids with a molecular mass of 37.9 kDa. ZmMYB-IF35 localized in the nucleus. Low temperatures induced the expression of ZmMYB-IF35 in maize, and the relative expression level reached its maximum after 4 h of chilling stress. The overexpression of ZmMYB-IF35 under the control of the CaMV35S promoter in Arabidopsis conferred tolerance to chilling stress compared with the wild-type plants by maintaining the maximal photochemical efficiency of photosystem II. Furthermore, under chilling stress, the ZmMYB-IF35 transgenic plants showed greater antioxidant enzyme activity levels, lower reactive oxygen species contents and lower ion leakage levels than those of wild-type plants. Thus, the overexpression of ZmMYB-IF35 may enhance resistance to chilling and oxidative stresses in transgenic Arabidopsis and alleviates PSII photoinhibition.