How maize responds to heat stress
The function of N6-methyladenine (6mA) during heat stress (HS) in crops is not well understood, although it plays an important role in stress response and during eukaryotic development.
The researchers showed that 6mA DNA methylation shapes maize heat stress responses by repressing key genes and transposons. They show that upon HS, heat-tolerant plants show elevated 6mA levels, with differential 6mA patterning on key HS-related genes underlying thermotolerance variation between 2 maize lines.
They identified ZmALKBH1 as a 6mA demethylase and developed a deep learning model to predict 6mA distribution and heat tolerance in diverse maize lines.
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(25)00829-0
