A Novel Heat Shock Transcription Factor (ZmHsf08) Negatively Regulates Salt and Drought Stress Responses in Maize

Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) play important roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses. However, the function of these transcription factors in abiotic stress responses in maize (Zea mays) remains largely unknown. In this study, we characterized a novel HSF transcription factor gene, ZmHsf08, from maize. ZmHsf08 was highly homologous to SbHsfB1, BdHsfB1, and OsHsfB1, and has no transcriptional activation activity. The expression profiles demonstrated that ZmHsf08 was differentially expressed in various organs of maize and was induced by salt, drought, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Moreover, the overexpression of ZmHsf08 in maize resulted in enhanced sensitivity to salt and drought stresses, displaying lower survival rates, higher reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels, and increased malondialdehyde (MDA) contents compared with wild-type (WT) plants. Furthermore, RT-qPCR analyses revealed that ZmHsf08 negatively regulates a number of stress/ABA-responsive genes under salt and drought stress conditions. Collectively, these results indicate that ZmHsf08 plays a negative role in response to salt and drought stresses in maize.

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A Soybean bZIP Transcription Factor GmbZIP19 Confers Multiple Biotic and Abiotic Stress Responses in Plant

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms21134701 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (13) ◽

pp. 4701

Author(s):

Qing He ◽

Hanyang Cai ◽

Mengyan Bai ◽

Man Zhang ◽

Fangqian Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Drought Stress ◽

Pseudomonas Syringae ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Stomatal Closure ◽

Negative Regulator ◽

Marker Genes ◽

Genes Expression ◽

Salt And Drought Stress ◽

Salt And Drought Stresses

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) is a plant-specific transcription factor family that plays crucial roles in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. However, little is known about the function of bZIP genes in soybean. In this study, we isolated a bZIP gene, GmbZIP19, from soybean. A subcellular localization study of GmbZIP19 revealed its nucleus localization. We showed that GmbZIP19 expression was significantly induced by ABA (abscisic acid), JA (jasmonic acid) and SA (salicylic acid), but reduced under salt and drought stress conditions. Further, GmbZIP19 overexpression Arabidopsis lines showed increased resistance to S. sclerotiorum and Pseudomonas syringae associated with upregulated ABA-, JA-, ETH- (ethephon-)and SA-induced marker genes expression, but exhibited sensitivity to salt and drought stresses in association with destroyed stomatal closure and downregulated the salt and drought stresses marker genes’ expression. We generated a soybean transient GmbZIP19 overexpression line, performed a Chromatin immunoprecipitation assay and found that GmbZIP19 bound to promoters of ABA-, JA-, ETH-, and SA-induced marker genes in soybean. The yeast one-hybrid verified the combination. The current study suggested that GmbZIP19 is a positive regulator of pathogen resistance and a negative regulator of salt and drought stress tolerance.

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Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Analyses of the bZIP Transcription Factor Genes in moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis)

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms20092203 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (9) ◽

pp. 2203 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Feng Pan ◽

Min Wu ◽

Wenfang Hu ◽

Rui Liu ◽

Hanwei Yan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Transcriptional Activation ◽

Growth And Development ◽

Expression Profiles ◽

Forest Products ◽

Regulatory Elements ◽

Moso Bamboo ◽

Bzip Transcription Factor ◽

Phyllostachys Edulis

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor (TF) family is one of the largest gene families, and play crucial roles in many processes, including stress responses, hormone effects. The TF family also participates in plant growth and development. However, limited information is available for these genes in moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis), one of the most important non-timber forest products in the world. In the present study, 154 putative PhebZIP genes were identified in the moso bamboo genome. The phylogenetic analyses indicate that the PhebZIP gene proteins classify into 9 subfamilies and the gene structures and conserved motifs that analyses identified among all PhebZIP proteins suggested a high group-specificity. Microsynteny and evolutionary patterns analyses of the non-synonymous (Ka) and synonymous (Ks) substitution rates and their ratios indicated that paralogous pairs of PhebZIP genes in moso bamboo underwent a large-scale genome duplication event that occurred 7–15 million years ago (MYA). According to promoter sequence analysis, we further selected 18 genes which contain the higher number of cis-regulatory elements for expression analysis. The result showed that these genes are extensively involved in GA-, ABA- and MeJA-responses, with possibly different mechanisms. The tissue-specific expression profiles of PhebZIP genes in five plant tissues/organs/developmental stages suggested that these genes are involved in moso bamboo organ development, especially seed development. Subcellular localization and transactivation activity analysis showed that PhebZIP47 and PhebZIP126 were localized in the nucleus and PhebZIP47 with no transcriptional activation in yeast. Our research provides a comprehensive understanding of PhebZIP genes and may aid in the selection of appropriate candidate genes for further cloning and functional analysis in moso bamboo growth and development, and improve their resistance to stress during their life.

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Comprehensive genomic characterization of NAC transcription factor family and their response to salt and drought stress in peanut

BMC Plant Biology ◽

10.1186/s12870-020-02678-9 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Cuiling Yuan ◽

Chunjuan Li ◽

Xiaodong Lu ◽

Xiaobo Zhao ◽

Caixia Yan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Expression Patterns ◽

Functional Characterization ◽

Nac Transcription Factor ◽

Rna Seq ◽

A Genome ◽

Salt And Drought Stress

Abstract Background Peanut is one of the most important oil crop species worldwide. NAC transcription factor (TF) genes play important roles in the salt and drought stress responses of plants by activating or repressing target gene expression. However, little is known about NAC genes in peanut. Results We performed a genome-wide characterization of NAC genes from the diploid wild peanut species Arachis duranensis and Arachis ipaensis, which included analyses of chromosomal locations, gene structures, conserved motifs, expression patterns, and cis-acting elements within their promoter regions. In total, 81 and 79 NAC genes were identified from A. duranensis and A. ipaensis genomes. Phylogenetic analysis of peanut NACs along with their Arabidopsis and rice counterparts categorized these proteins into 18 distinct subgroups. Fifty-one orthologous gene pairs were identified, and 46 orthologues were found to be highly syntenic on the chromosomes of both A. duranensis and A. ipaensis. Comparative RNA sequencing (RNA-seq)-based analysis revealed that the expression of 43 NAC genes was up- or downregulated under salt stress and under drought stress. Among these genes, the expression of 17 genes in cultivated peanut (Arachis hypogaea) was up- or downregulated under both stresses. Moreover, quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR)-based analysis revealed that the expression of most of the randomly selected NAC genes tended to be consistent with the comparative RNA-seq results. Conclusion Our results facilitated the functional characterization of peanut NAC genes, and the genes involved in salt and drought stress responses identified in this study could be potential genes for peanut improvement.

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The bZIP Transcription Factor GmbZIP15 Negatively Regulates Salt- and Drought-Stress Responses in Soybean

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms21207778 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (20) ◽

pp. 7778

Author(s):

Man Zhang ◽

Yanhui Liu ◽

Hanyang Cai ◽

Mingliang Guo ◽

Mengnan Chai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Abiotic Stress ◽

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Negative Regulator ◽

Bzip Transcription Factor ◽

Antioxidant Enzyme Activities ◽

Oilseed Crop ◽

Abiotic Stress Response ◽

Salt And Drought Stress

Soybean (Glycine max), as an important oilseed crop, is constantly threatened by abiotic stress, including that caused by salinity and drought. bZIP transcription factors (TFs) are one of the largest TF families and have been shown to be associated with various environmental-stress tolerances among species; however, their function in abiotic-stress response in soybean remains poorly understood. Here, we characterized the roles of soybean transcription factor GmbZIP15 in response to abiotic stresses. The transcript level of GmbZIP15 was suppressed under salt- and drought-stress conditions. Overexpression of GmbZIP15 in soybean resulted in hypersensitivity to abiotic stress compared with wild-type (WT) plants, which was associated with lower transcript levels of stress-responsive genes involved in both abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and ABA-independent pathways, defective stomatal aperture regulation, and reduced antioxidant enzyme activities. Furthermore, plants expressing a functional repressor form of GmbZIP15 exhibited drought-stress resistance similar to WT. RNA-seq and qRT-PCR analyses revealed that GmbZIP15 positively regulates GmSAHH1 expression and negatively regulates GmWRKY12 and GmABF1 expression in response to abiotic stress. Overall, these data indicate that GmbZIP15 functions as a negative regulator in response to salt and drought stresses.

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Potato NAC Transcription Factor StNAC053 Enhances Salt and Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22052568 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (5) ◽

pp. 2568

Author(s):

Qi Wang ◽

Cun Guo ◽

Zhiyuan Li ◽

Jinhao Sun ◽

Zhichao Deng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Drought Stress ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Nac Transcription Factor ◽

Transactivation Domain ◽

Wild Type ◽

Gfp Fusion Protein ◽

Salt And Drought Stress ◽

Stress Related Genes ◽

Nac Family

The NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factors comprise one of the largest transcription factor families in plants and play important roles in stress responses. However, little is known about the functions of potato NAC family members. Here we report the cloning of a potato NAC transcription factor gene StNAC053, which was significantly upregulated after salt, drought, and abscisic acid treatments. Furthermore, the StNAC053-GFP fusion protein was found to be located in the nucleus and had a C-terminal transactivation domain, implying that StNAC053 may function as a transcriptional activator in potato. Notably, Arabidopsis plants overexpressing StNAC053 displayed lower seed germination rates compared to wild-type under exogenous ABA treatment. In addition, the StNAC053 overexpression Arabidopsis lines displayed significantly increased tolerance to salt and drought stress treatments. Moreover, the StNAC053-OE lines were found to have higher activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and peroxidase (POD) under multiple stress treatments. Interestingly, the expression levels of several stress-related genes including COR15A,DREB1A, ERD11, RAB18, ERF5, and KAT2, were significantly upregulated in these StNAC053-overexpressing lines. Taken together, overexpression of the stress-inducible StNAC053 gene could enhance the tolerances to both salt and drought stress treatments in Arabidopsis, likely by upregulating stress-related genes.

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Regulation of the heat shock transcription factor Hsf1 in fungi: implications for temperature-dependent virulence traits

FEMS Yeast Research ◽

10.1093/femsyr/foy041 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Amanda O Veri ◽

Nicole Robbins ◽

Leah E Cowen

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Heat Shock ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Transcriptional Activation ◽

Fungal Pathogens ◽

Heat Shock Transcription Factor ◽

Yeast Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Virulence Traits ◽

And Function ◽

The Impact

Abstract The impact of fungal pathogens on human health is devastating. For fungi and other pathogens, a key determinant of virulence is the capacity to thrive at host temperatures, with elevated temperature in the form of fever as a ubiquitous host response to defend against infection. A prominent feature of cells experiencing heat stress is the increased expression of heat shock proteins (Hsps) that play pivotal roles in the refolding of misfolded proteins in order to restore cellular homeostasis. Transcriptional activation of this heat shock response is orchestrated by the essential heat shock transcription factor, Hsf1. Although the influence of Hsf1 on cellular stress responses has been studied for decades, many aspects of its regulation and function remain largely enigmatic. In this review, we highlight our current understanding of how Hsf1 is regulated and activated in the model yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and highlight exciting recent discoveries related to its diverse functions under both basal and stress conditions. Given that thermal adaption is a fundamental requirement for growth and virulence in fungal pathogens, we also compare and contrast Hsf1 activation and function in other fungal species with an emphasis on its role as a critical regulator of virulence traits.

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Arabidopsis heat shock transcription factor HSFA7b positively mediates salt stress tolerance by binding to an E-box-like motif to regulate gene expression

Journal of Experimental Botany ◽

10.1093/jxb/erz261 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 70 (19) ◽

pp. 5355-5374 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Dandan Zang ◽

Jingxin Wang ◽

Xin Zhang ◽

Zhujun Liu ◽

Yucheng Wang

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Transcription Factors ◽

Heat Shock ◽

Salt Tolerance ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Ion Homeostasis ◽

Cellulose Synthase ◽

Regulate Gene Expression ◽

E Box ◽

Regulate Gene

Abstract Plant heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are involved in heat and other abiotic stress responses. However, their functions in salt tolerance are little known. In this study, we characterized the function of a HSF from Arabidopsis, AtHSFA7b, in salt tolerance. AtHSFA7b is a nuclear protein with transactivation activity. ChIP-seq combined with an RNA-seq assay indicated that AtHSFA7b preferentially binds to a novel cis-acting element, termed the E-box-like motif, to regulate gene expression; it also binds to the heat shock element motif. Under salt conditions, AtHSFA7b regulates its target genes to mediate serial physiological changes, including maintaining cellular ion homeostasis, reducing water loss rate, decreasing reactive oxygen species accumulation, and adjusting osmotic potential, which ultimately leads to improved salt tolerance. Additionally, most cellulose synthase-like (CSL) and cellulose synthase (CESA) family genes were inhibited by AtHSFA7b; some of them were randomly selected for salt tolerance characterization, and they were mainly found to negatively modulate salt tolerance. By contrast, some transcription factors (TFs) were induced by AtHSFA7b; among them, we randomly identified six TFs that positively regulate salt tolerance. Thus, AtHSFA7b serves as a transactivator that positively mediates salinity tolerance mainly through binding to the E-box-like motif to regulate gene expression.

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Subnuclear compartmentalization of sequence-specific transcription factors and regulation of eukaryotic gene expression

Biochemistry and Cell Biology ◽

10.1139/o05-062 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 83 (4) ◽

pp. 535-547 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Gareth N Corry ◽

D Alan Underhill

Keyword(s):

Gene Expression ◽

Transcription Factor ◽

Transcription Factors ◽

Transcriptional Activation ◽

Current Knowledge ◽

Nuclear Architecture ◽

Subnuclear Localization ◽

Modular Structures

To date, the majority of the research regarding eukaryotic transcription factors has focused on characterizing their function primarily through in vitro methods. These studies have revealed that transcription factors are essentially modular structures, containing separate regions that participate in such activities as DNA binding, protein–protein interaction, and transcriptional activation or repression. To fully comprehend the behavior of a given transcription factor, however, these domains must be analyzed in the context of the entire protein, and in certain cases the context of a multiprotein complex. Furthermore, it must be appreciated that transcription factors function in the nucleus, where they must contend with a variety of factors, including the nuclear architecture, chromatin domains, chromosome territories, and cell-cycle-associated processes. Recent examinations of transcription factors in the nucleus have clarified the behavior of these proteins in vivo and have increased our understanding of how gene expression is regulated in eukaryotes. Here, we review the current knowledge regarding sequence-specific transcription factor compartmentalization within the nucleus and discuss its impact on the regulation of such processes as activation or repression of gene expression and interaction with coregulatory factors.Key words: transcription, subnuclear localization, chromatin, gene expression, nuclear architecture.

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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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RAE-1 ligands for the NKG2D receptor are regulated by E2F transcription factors, which control cell cycle entry

Journal of Experimental Medicine ◽

10.1084/jem.20120565 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 209 (13) ◽

pp. 2409-2422 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

Heiyoun Jung ◽

Benjamin Hsiung ◽

Kathleen Pestal ◽

Emily Procyk ◽

David H. Raulet

Keyword(s):

Cell Cycle ◽

Transcription Factors ◽

Stress Responses ◽

Transcriptional Activation ◽

Posttranscriptional Regulation ◽

Cellular Proliferation ◽

Control Cell ◽

T Cell Subsets ◽

Cell Cycle Entry

The NKG2D stimulatory receptor expressed by natural killer cells and T cell subsets recognizes cell surface ligands that are induced on transformed and infected cells and facilitate immune rejection of tumor cells. We demonstrate that expression of retinoic acid early inducible gene 1 (RAE-1) family NKG2D ligands in cancer cell lines and proliferating normal cells is coupled directly to cell cycle regulation. Raet1 genes are directly transcriptionally activated by E2F family transcription factors, which play a central role in regulating cell cycle entry. Induction of RAE-1 occurred in primary cell cultures, embryonic brain cells in vivo, and cells in healing skin wounds and, accordingly, wound healing was delayed in mice lacking NKG2D. Transcriptional activation by E2Fs is likely coordinated with posttranscriptional regulation by other stress responses. These findings suggest that cellular proliferation, as occurs in cancer cells but also other pathological conditions, is a key signal tied to immune reactions mediated by NKG2D-bearing lymphocytes.

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