Group 5 LEA protein, ZmLEA5C, enhance tolerance to osmotic and low temperature stresses in transgenic tobacco and yeast

Group 5 LEA (Late Embryogenesis Abundant) proteins contain a significantly higher proportion of hydrophobic residues but lack significant signature motifs or consensus sequences. This group is considered as an atypical group of LEA proteins. Up to now, there is little known about group 5C LEA proteins in maize. Here, we identified a novel group 5C LEA protein from maize. The accumulation of transcripts demonstrated that ZmLEA5C displayed similar induced characteristics in leaves and roots. Transcription of ZmLEA5C could be induced by low temperature, osmotic and oxidative stress and some signaling molecules, such as abscisic acid (ABA), salicylic acid (SA) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA). However, transcription of ZmLEA5C was significantly inhibited by high salinity. Further study indicated that the ZmLEA5C protein could be phosphorylated by the protein kinase CKII. ZmLEA5C could protect the activity of LDH under water deficit and low temperature stresses. Overexpression of ZmLEA5C conferred to transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) and yeast (GS115) tolerance to osmotic and low temperature stresses.