H4 — Zea mays

Summary

ZmH4 (ZM00001EB187430) on maize chromosome 4 encodes a core histone H4 protein, a structural constituent of chromatin with histone-fold and CENP-T/H4_C domains. It is associated with diverse molecular functions including DNA binding, protein heterodimerization, and multiple chromatin-modifying activities such as histone acetylase, deacetylase, and methylase activities. The gene has been linked to numerous biological processes including chromatin decompaction, DNA replication licensing, telomeric silencing, mitosis, and sucrose breakdown. Agronomically, ZmH4 is associated with grain yield, plant height, flowering time, anthesis time, seed maturation and growth traits, heat and cold tolerance, salinity tolerance, bacterial blight disease resistance, leaf and root morphology traits, shoot branching, heterosis, and responses to brassinosteroids and abscisic acid. It localizes to multiple cellular compartments including the nucleolus, thylakoid, chloroplast envelope, and plasmodesmata.