Cloning and characterization of maize herbicide safener-induced cDNAs encoding subunits of glutathione S-transferase isoforms I, II and IV.

Several GSTs have been characterised in maize. GST I is a homodimer of 29 kDa subunits, GST II a hetrodimer of 27 kDa and 29 kDa subunits and GST IV a homodimer of 27 kDa subunits. We report the isolation and characterization of a herbicide-safener inducible cDNA clone, GST-27. Based on partial amino acid sequence, GST-27 encodes the 27 kDa subunit present in both glutathione S-transferase isoforms GST II and IV. Northern blotting was used to compare the expression patterns of GST-27 with that of GST-29. Transcripts corresponding to GST-27 were found to be constitutively expressed in RNA isolated from the root, but no expression was detected in RNA isolated from aerial parts of the plant. The application of herbicide safener caused a dramatic increase in the expression of GST-27 in all aerial plant parts tested. GST-29 was found to be constitutively expressed in RNA isolated from a number of maize tissues. The basal level of GST-29 expression showed a minimal increase upon herbicide safener treatment. Although a range of hormonal, environmental and physiological stimuli failed to elevate GST-27 levels, some increase in GST-27 mRNA was observed in the late stages of leaf senescence and after treatments resulting in phytotoxic effects.