Maize leaves salt-responsive genes revealed by comparative transcriptome of salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive cultivars during the seedling stage.

ABSTRACT: Maize (Zea mays) is a crop of significant global importance, yet its productivity is considerably hindered by salt stress. In this study, we investigated two maize cultivars, one exhibiting high salt tolerance (ST) and the other showing salt sensitivity (SS) at the seedling stage. The ST cultivar demonstrated superior seedling survival rates, higher relative water content, and lower electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde levels in its leaves after both 3-day and 7-day salt treatments, when compared to the SS cultivar. To explore the molecular basis of these differences, we performed comparative transcriptome sequencing under varying salt treatment durations. A total of 980 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. Gene ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis of DE

SUBMITTER: Ji M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11994069 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature