LEA — Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare

Summary

HORVU.MOREX.R3.6HG0548110, designated HvLEA on barley chromosome 6H, encodes a protein with a dehydrin conserved sequence domain. The protein exhibits lipid binding, including phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidate and phosphoinositide binding, and is localised to the vesicle membrane, cytosol and nucleus. HvLEA is associated with responses to water, cold, heat, abscisic acid and thirst, as well as cold acclimation, embryogenesis, seed development and germination, glucose effect, lipid transport, chlorophyll fluorescence and homeostasis. The gene has been linked to traits including abscisic acid and sugar content, water use efficiency, heat and cold tolerance, photosynthetic rate, quantum yield, leaf size and germination rate, and to phenotypes such as drought, salinity, desiccation tolerance and seedling establishment. Studies of related genes in other species connect the family to drought and salt tolerance.