Identification and characterization of the dehydrin gene family in maize

Dehydrins(DHN) is a hydrophilic protein widely distributed in plants. DHNs belong to class II in LEA protein family and have important roles in response to abiotic stresses, such as cold, drought and salt, etc. In this study, we performed a bioinformatics analysis to identify the members of the DHN family in maize. Subsequently, we carried out a systematic analysis of these genes, including phylogenetic relationship, gene structure, chromosome location, gene duplication and expression patterns. The results showed that a total of 5 DHN members were identified in maize, and the phylogenetic relationship, gene structure and motif analysis indicated that genes in the DHN family are highly conserved. Gene duplication and interspecies microsynteny analysis demonstrated that one segmental duplication pair(ZmDHN1-ZmDHN2) existed in maize DHN family, while two orthologous gene pairs(ZmDHN2-Sb04g032250.1and ZmDHN2-Os02g44870.1) were detected among maize, rice and sorghum. Analysis of transcriptional data indicated that the DHN genes had different expression patterns at different developmental stages. In addition, the expression of five ZmDHN genes was significantly induced under salt and drought stresses. This study provides a basis for the selection of important DHN genes for further functional analysis in maize.