AP2 — Zea mays

Summary

ZmAP2 (ZM00001EB215750) on maize chromosome 5 encodes a protein with a CDK domain and serine/threonine kinase activity, annotated as an RNA polymerase II CTD heptapeptide repeat kinase (EC 2.7.11.22, 2.7.11.23) and associated with cyclin binding and transcription corepressor activity. The gene is associated with diverse processes including flower formation, sex determination, phloem development, regulation of root hair elongation, and shoot apical meristem development. It has been linked to agronomic traits such as seed length, cob diameter, tassel branch number, anthesis-silking interval, leaf angle, biomass yield, root volume, and responses to salt, drought, and herbicide. Localisation evidence places the product at the tonoplast, Golgi, ER membrane, and plasmodesmata. Studies of related genes in other species link the family to floral development, ethylene-responsive gene expression, and homeotic floral transformations.