Developmental regulators in promoting genetic transformation efficiency in maize and other plants

Given global agricultural challenges such as population growth, climate change, and limitations on resources and the environment, as well as increasing diversity in breeding goals, relying on traditional breeding methods is inadequate to provide food security requirements and promote sustainable development. Genetic transformation technology has become an effective tool for performing functional genomics research and molecular breeding. In this study, we conducted an in-depth analysis of 1669 literary works to investigate the potential of developmental regulators (DRs) in enhancing the efficiency of plant genetic transformation, with a concentration on their use in maize. Through multi-omics data analysis, we identified 12 homologous DRs from various species that are potentially applicable to maize. We identified a total of 41 possible disease resistances (DRs) for maize genetic transformation. Further experimental verification of ZmWIND1, a novel regulator belonging to the ERF/AP2 transcription factor (TF) family, showed that it significantly improved the efficiency of plant regeneration and transformation efficiency in maize. Specifically, compared to the control group, the callus induction rates for the pG3GB411-ZmWIND1 vector increased to 60.22 % and 47.85 % in Xiang249 and Zheng58, respectively. Transformation efficiency increased to 37.5 % in Xiang249 and 16.56 % in Zheng58, both significantly surpassing the control group. These findings have the potential to broaden the range of transformable maize varieties and lines, as well as introduce new genetic transformation methods in agricultural biotechnology, underscoring the immense potential to enhance genetic transformation efficiency through systematic exploration and application of DRs in maize.