[ Objective] The study aimed to clone and identify Na^＋/H^＋ antiporter genes in maize, and provided the information for characterizing the function of such genes in abiotic stress tolerance of maize. Method The in silico cloning, RT-PCR, and bioinformatics analysis were used in this study. Result By in sifico cloning, a plasma membrane Na^＋/H^＋ antiporter gene, named as ZmSOS1 （EMBL accession No. BN001309）, was cloned from maize （ Zea mays L. ）. ZmSOS1 has an open reading frame （ORF） of 3 411 bp which encoded a protein of 1 136 amino acids. By multiple sequence alignment analysis, it showed the predicated peptide of ZmSOS1 were 61% and 82% identities in amino acids to the plasma membrane Na^＋/H^＋ antiporter AtSOS1 and OsSOS1, respectively. The RT-PCR analysis revealed that ZmSOS1 could be significantly up-regulated by salt stress, which indicated ZmSOS1 might play a role in salt tolerance of maize. Conclusion ZmSOS1 is a putative plasma membrane Na^＋/H^＋ antiporter gene and may play a role in abiotic stress tolerance of maize.
