LEA — Sorghum bicolor

Summary

SORBI_3009G116700, designated SbLEA (also known as SbRAB21, SbDHN1, and SbDHN7), encodes a dehydrin protein on sorghum chromosome 9. The product belongs to the dehydrin family and exhibits lipid binding activity, specifically binding phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidate, and phosphoinositides. SbLEA is associated with cold acclimation, detoxification, embryogenesis, response to abscisic acid, signal transduction, and response to thirst. It localizes to the vesicle membrane, cytosol, and nucleus. The gene has been linked to water use efficiency, photosynthetic rate, and anthesis time, as well as phenotypes including seedling establishment, drought, salinity stress, desiccation tolerance, and seed-related traits. Studies of related genes in other species connect the family to winter survival, cold and heat tolerance, salt response, spikelet sterility, and seed maturation.