Overexpression of a new Cys2/His2 zinc finger protein ZmZF1 from maize confers salt and drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis

A new Cys2/His2 zinc finger protein gene, ZmZF1, was amplified from the full-length cDNA library of osmotically stressed maize seedlings. It encodes a putative zinc finger transcription factor with two conserved C2H2 domains. Transient expression analysis of a ZmZF1-GFP fusion protein showed that ZmZF1 was preferentially localized to the nucleus, even though it carries no putative nuclear location signal. The transcript of ZmZF1 was strongly induced by salt stress. It was also induced by ABA and drought stress. Overexpression of ZmZF1 under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter enhanced the salt and drought tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis at the young seedling stage.