12958 10.30848/PJB2024-6(13) <p> Genome-wide identification and expression pattern analysis of DHN family genes in maize</p> Chunyan Gao, Xiaohan Cao, Jiawei Shen, Xv Wang, Xinyue Jiao, Yanting Gong, Xinyue Peng and Liping Ren <p> Plant dehydrin (DHN) is a hydrophilic protein widely present in organisms, and it is accumulated when plants encounter adverse environments. Based on the sequence information of <em>DHN</em> family genes in <em>Arabidopsis thaliana</em>, 13 <em>DHN</em> genes were found in maize using the homology sequence alignment method, in which five <em>DHN</em> genes were located on chromosome 8. The maize <em>DHN</em> gene family can be classified into five branches by evolutionary analysis. The DHN proteins contain five subclasses which are K_n, SK_n, K_nS, Y_nSK_nand FSK_n. Analysis of cis-acting elements showed that the promoters of <em>DHN</em> gene family harbor cis-acting elements mainly responsive to stress and plant hormones. Tissue expression patterns revealed that almost all <em>ZmDHN</em> genes are expressed in the embryo and aleurone layer. DHN proteins were mainly distributed in the nucleus and cytoplasm by subcellular localization prediction. The present findings allow insight into understanding maize <em>DHN</em> family genes&rsquo; functions and facilitate the molecular breeding of <em>ZmDHN</em>s in coping with abiotic stress</p> Published 2024 56 6 2373 2380