The study on the S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (/SAMDC/)gene in
maizehas not been reported yet. Now, scientists from Jilin Agricultural
University inChinafound substantial evidence that its overexpression can
lead to effectively improve the cold tolerance of the crop.

Previous studies have found the/SAMDC/gene to be effective in improving
the performances of tobacco,cotton, and herbaceous plants. To find out
if it will also work in maize, the Chinese scientists cultivated cold
tolerant maize lines using/Agrobacterium/-mediated transformation to
localize the/SAMDC/gene into the nucleus and produce the inbred line
GSH9001. The transgenic maize underwent single-field experiments in
three biological repeats for three years.

It was recorded that the contents of the polyamines, proline,
malondialdehyde, antioxidant enzymes, and ascorbate peroxidases in the
leaves significantly increased in the transgenic maize line with the
overexpressed/SAMDC/gene. The CBF and cold-responsive gene were also
found to have effectively increased. The transgenic maize had
significantly improved yield traits without having any changes in plant
height, ear length, and shaft thickness. The scientists concluded that
engineering the/SAMDC/gene in maize can be an effective strategy to
improve its tolerance against cold temperatures.

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