种子大小是影响作物产量的关键因素，研究相关基因功能及调控机制具有重要意义。课题组前期基于玉米粒重QTL定位和抑制差减杂交文库，筛选到编码RING-C4HC3型锌指蛋白的新基因ZmZFP2，并进行表达特征、亚细胞定、E3泛素连接酶活性、超表达拟南芥等功能分析及zfp2突变体筛选，初步证明该基因影响籽粒发育。本项目拟开展：（1）ZmZFP2超表达、敲除和zfp2突变体材料的基因表达特征、表型性状分析和细胞学观察，解析该基因调控玉米籽粒发育的生物学功能；（2）ZmZFP2蛋白分段及其互作蛋白的亚细胞定位、体外泛素化检测，明确该蛋白的分子生物学特征；（3）ZmZFP2基因敲除和野生型材料RNA-seq、泛素化定量蛋白组学分析以及ZmZFP2互作蛋白的筛选与验证，构建该基因的分子调控网络。综合以上结果，解析ZmZFP2参与玉米籽粒发育的分子调控机制，为遗传改良提供具有明确功能的新基因及理论指导。

Seed size is a major determinant of grain yield. Revealing the functions and their molecular mechanism for grain size-related genes has important theoretical and practical application in plant. The new maize gene ZmZFP2, encoding RING-C4HC3 zinc finger protein, was cloned according to grain weight QTL mapping and EST sequences electronically mapped from four suppression extractive hybridization libraries in our previous research. The expression characteristics of ZmZFP2, sub-cellular location, E3 ubiquitin ligase activity analysis, overexpression transformed Arabidopsis, and the zfp2 mutant screening proved that ZmZFP2 played important role during grain development in plant. Further researches in this study are as follows: (1) the ZmZFP2 expression characteristics, grain related traits and cellular observation for developmental endosperm of overexpression and CRISPR of ZmZFP2 and the zfp2 mutant, analyzing the biological functions of ZmZFP2 in regulating grain development in maize; (2) the sub-cellular localization for ZmZFP2 segmented proteins and their interacting proteins, and in vitro ubiquition detection, exploring the biochemical molecular characteristics of ZmZFP2 and interacting proteins; (3) RNA-seq, quantitative ubiqitination proteomics and interacting proteins screening and validation using ZmZFP2 gene knockout and wild-type materials, revealing the molecular regulatory network of ZmZFP2. These results will elucidate the molecular regulation mechanism of ZmZFP2 in maize grain development, and provide a new functional gene for grain weight and theoretical role in maize grain yield improvement.