Studying the expression of ZIP1, ZIP3 and ZIP6 genes in bread wheat under Zn deficiency conditions

Zn deficiency in the soil reduces plant yield and grain Zn content. The regulation of ZIP (ZRT/IRT-like protein) family genes is one of the main mechanisms of plant to confront to Zn deficiency stress. To investigate the expression of ZIP1, ZIP3 and ZIP6 genes in roots and leaves of Zn-efficient and inefficient wheat cultivars under Zn deficiency conditions, a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications was conducted in greenhouse. Bayat and Niknejad (Zn-efficient) and Hirmand and Karaj 1 (Zn-inefficient) cultivars were grown under Zn deficiency and adequacy conditions and the relative expression of the genes were measured in root and leaf at two growth stages, 28 days after germination (vegetative) and 30% of flowering (reproductive). The results revealed a significant (P≤0.01) increase in expression of all three studied genes in Zn-efficient than -inefficient cultivars under Zn deficiency conditions. The expression of the ZIP1 in root was significantly more than that of leaf in both vegetative and reproductive stages, while ZIP3 and ZIP6 genes were expressed in both root and leaf. A significant (P≤0.05) and positive correlation was observed between ZIP6 expression in leaves and seed grain Zn content at reproductive stage. In conclusion, with regard to the increased expression of ZIP1 in root and ZIP3 and ZIP6 in both root and leaf, it may be resulted that ZIP1 have a major role in Zn uptake from the roots, while ZIP3 and ZIP6 probably involved in Zn uptake and translocation.