Natural variation in a cortex/epidermis-specific transcription factor bZIP89 determines lateral root development and drought resilience in maize

Authors: Pengcheng Li, Tianze Zhu, Yunyun Wang, Xiaomin Zhang, Xiaoyi Yang, Shuai Fang, Wei Li, Wenye Rui, Aiqing Yang, Yamin Duan, Yuxing Yan, Qingchun Pan, Zhongtao Jia, Houmiao Wang, Zefeng Yang, Peng Yu, Chenwu Xu

Published: 2025-04-11

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adt1113

Source: Full article


Abstract

Lateral roots (LRs) branching is crucial for water and nutrient acquisition in plants, ultimately determining the overall plant performance and productivity. However, the transcriptional regulation of LR development in crops and its role in stress resilience remain largely unexplored. Leveraging integrated transcriptome-wide association study and single-cell RNA sequencing data, we identified a basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor