Phytohormone signaling and crosstalk in regulating drought stress response in plants

AbstractPhosphoethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEAMTase) catalyzes the methylation of phosphoethanolamine to produce phosphocholine and plays an important role in the abiotic stress response. Although the PEAMT genes has been isolated from many species other than pitaya, its role in the drought stress response has not yet been fully elucidated. In the present study, we isolated a 1485 bp cDNA fragment of HpPEAMT from pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus). Phylogenetic analysis showed that, during its evolution, HpPEAMT has shown a high degree of amino acid sequence similarity with the orthologous genes in Chenopodiaceae species. To further investigate the function of HpPEAMT, we generated transgenic tobacco plants overexpressing HpPEAMT, and the transgenic plants accumulated significantly more glycine betaine (GB) than did the wild type (WT). Drought tolerance trials indicated that, compared with those of the wild-type (WT) plants, the roots of the transgenic plants showed higher drought tolerance ability and exhibited improved drought tolerance. Further analysis revealed that overexpression of HpPEAM in Nicotiana tabacum resulted in upregulation of transcript levels of GB biosynthesis-related genes (NiBADH, NiCMO and NiSDC) in the leaves. Furthermore, compared with the wild-type plants, the transgenic tobacco plants displayed a significantly lower malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation and higher activities of the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) antioxidant enzymes under drought stress. Taken together, our results suggested that HpPEAMT enhanced the drought tolerance of transgenic tobacco.

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NAC Transcription Factor PwNAC11 Activates ERD1 by Interaction with ABF3 and DREB2A to Enhance Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22136952 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (13) ◽

pp. 6952

Author(s):

Mingxin Yu ◽

Junling Liu ◽

Bingshuai Du ◽

Mengjuan Zhang ◽

Aibin Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Response ◽

Transcriptional Activation ◽

Dominant Role ◽

State Level ◽

Energy Conversion Efficiency ◽

Nac Transcription Factor ◽

Wild Plants ◽

Transgenic Lines

NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factors are ubiquitously distributed in eukaryotes and play significant roles in stress response. However, the functional verifications of NACs in Picea (P.) wilsonii remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we identified the NAC transcription factor PwNAC11 as a mediator of drought stress, which was significantly upregulated in P. wilsonii under drought and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments. Yeast two-hybrid assays showed that both the full length and C-terminal of PwNAC11 had transcriptional activation activity and PwNAC11 protein cannot form a homodimer by itself. Subcellular observation demonstrated that PwNAC11 protein was located in nucleus. The overexpression of PwNAC11 in Arabidopsis obviously improved the tolerance to drought stress but delayed flowering time under nonstress conditions. The steady-state level of antioxidant enzymes’ activities and light energy conversion efficiency were significantly increased in PwNAC11 transgenic lines under dehydration compared to wild plants. PwNAC11 transgenic lines showed hypersensitivity to ABA and PwNAC11 activated the expression of the downstream gene ERD1 by binding to ABA-responsive elements (ABREs) instead of drought-responsive elements (DREs). Genetic evidence demonstrated that PwNAC11 physically interacted with an ABA-induced protein—ABRE Binding Factor3 (ABF3)—and promoted the activation of ERD1 promoter, which implied an ABA-dependent signaling cascade controlled by PwNAC11. In addition, qRT-PCR and yeast assays showed that an ABA-independent gene—DREB2A—was also probably involved in PwNAC11-mediated drought stress response. Taken together, our results provide the evidence that PwNAC11 plays a dominant role in plants positively responding to early drought stress and ABF3 and DREB2A synergistically regulate the expression of ERD1.

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Differential Gene Expression Reveals Candidate Genes for Drought Stress Response in Abies alba (Pinaceae)

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0124564 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 10 (4) ◽

pp. e0124564 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

David Behringer ◽

Heike Zimmermann ◽

Birgit Ziegenhagen ◽

Sascha Liepelt

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Response ◽

Candidate Genes ◽

Differential Gene Expression ◽

Abies Alba ◽

Differential Gene

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Chloroplast proteins involved in drought stress response in selected cultivars of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

3 Biotech ◽

10.1007/s13205-019-1862-x ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

Author(s):

Tanja Zadražnik ◽

Anders Moen ◽

Jelka Šuštar-Vozlič

Keyword(s):

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Response ◽

Phaseolus Vulgaris ◽

Common Bean ◽

Phaseolus Vulgaris L ◽

Chloroplast Proteins

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Identification of long noncoding natural antisense transcripts (lncNATs) correlated with drought stress response in wild rice (Oryza nivara)

10.21203/rs.3.rs-280217/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yong-Chao Xu ◽

Jie Zhang ◽

Dong-Yan Zhang ◽

Ying-Hui Nan ◽

Song Ge ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Response ◽

Wild Rice ◽

Oryza Rufipogon ◽

Cultivated Rice ◽

Antisense Transcripts ◽

High Genetic Diversity ◽

Natural Antisense Transcripts ◽

Form Complex ◽

Oryza Nivara

Abstract Background Wild rice, including Oryza nivara and Oryza rufipogon, which are considered as the ancestors of Asian cultivated rice (Oryza sativa L.), possess high genetic diversity and serve as a crucial resource for breeding novel cultivars of cultivated rice. Although many rice domestication related traits, such as seed shattering and plant architecture, have been intensively studied at the phenotypic and genomic levels, further investigation is needed to understand the molecular basis of phenotypic differences between cultivated and wild rice. Drought stress is one of the most severe abiotic stresses affecting rice growth and production. Adaptation to drought stress involves a cascade of genes and regulatory factors that form complex networks. Long noncoding natural antisense transcripts (lncNATs), a class of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), regulate the corresponding sense transcripts and play an important role in plant growth and development. However, the contribution of lncNATs to drought stress response in wild rice remains largely unknown. Results Here, we conducted strand-specific RNA sequencing (ssRNA-seq) analysis of Nipponbare (O. sativa ssp. japonica) and two O. nivara accessions (BJ89 and BJ278) to determine the role of lncNATs in drought stress response in wild rice. A total of 1,246 lncRNAs were identified, including 1,091 coding–noncoding NAT pairs, of which 50 were expressed only in Nipponbare, and 77 were expressed only in BJ89 and/or BJ278. Of the 1,091 coding–noncoding NAT pairs, 240 were differentially expressed between control and drought stress conditions. Among these 240 NAT pairs, 12 were detected only in Nipponbare, and 187 were detected uniquely in O. nivara. Furthermore, 10 of the 240 coding–noncoding NAT pairs were correlated with genes previously demonstrated to be involved in stress response; among these, nine pairs were uniquely found in O. nivara, and one pair was shared between O. nivara and Nipponbare. Conclusion We identified lncNATs associated with drought stress response in cultivated rice and O. nivara. These results will improve our understanding of the function of lncNATs in drought tolerance and accelerate rice breeding.

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Identification of novel drought-responsive miRNA regulatory network of drought stress response in common vetch (Vicia sativa)

Open Life Sciences ◽

10.1515/biol-2021-0109 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 1111-1121

Author(s):

Yongqun Zhu ◽

Qiuxu Liu ◽

Wenzhi Xu ◽

Li Yao ◽

Xie Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Response ◽

Protein Transport ◽

Target Genes ◽

Comparison Group ◽

Stress Factors ◽

Leguminous Plant ◽

Vicia Sativa ◽

Common Vetch ◽

Drought Treatment

Abstract Drought is among the most important natural disasters with severe effects on animals and plants. MicroRNAs are a class of noncoding RNAs that play a crucial role in plant growth, development, and response to stress factors, including drought. However, the microRNAs in drought responses in common vetch (Vicia sativa), an annual herbaceous leguminous plant commonly used for forage by including it in mixed seeding during winter and spring, have not been characterized. To explore the microRNAs’ response to drought in common vetch, we sequenced 10 small RNA (sRNA) libraries by the next-generation sequencing technology. We obtained 379 known miRNAs belonging to 38 families and 47 novel miRNAs. The two groups had varying numbers of differentially expressed miRNAs: 85 in the comparison group D5 vs C5 and 38 in the comparison group D3 vs C3. Combined analysis of mRNA and miRNA in the same samples under drought treatment identified 318 different target genes of 123 miRNAs. Functional annotation of the target genes revealed that the miRNAs regulate drought-responsive genes, such as leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase-encoding genes (LRR-RLKs), ABC transporter G family member 1 (ABCG1), and MAG2-interacting protein 2 (MIP2). The genes were involved in various pathways, including cell wall biosynthesis, reactive oxygen removal, and protein transport. The findings in this study provide new insights into the miRNA-mediated regulatory networks of drought stress response in common vetch.

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