Expression of TERF1 in rice regulates expression of stress-responsive genes and enhances tolerance to drought and high-salinity

Drought and high-salinity are the important constraints that severely affect plant development and crop yield worldwide. It has been established that ethylene response factor (ERF) proteins play important regulatory roles in plant response to abiotic and biotic stresses. Our previous researches have revealed that transgenic tobacco over-expressing TERF1 (encoding a tomato ERF protein) showed enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress. Here, we further investigate the function of TERF1 in transgenic rice. Compared with the wild-type plants, overexpression of TERF1 resulted in an increased tolerance to drought and high-salt in transgenic rice. And the enhanced tolerance may be associated with the accumulation of proline and the decrease of water loss. Furthermore, TERF1 can effectively regulate the expression of stress-related functional genes Lip5, Wcor413-l, OsPrx and OsABA2, as well as regulatory genes OsCDPK7, OsCDPK13 and OsCDPK19 under normal growth conditions. Our analyses of cis-acting elements show that there exist DRE/CRT and/or GCC-box existing in TERF1 targeted gene promoters. Our results revealed that ectopic expression of TERF1 in rice caused a series of molecular and physiological alterations and resulted in the transgenic rice with enhanced tolerance to abiotic stress, indicating that TERF1 might have similar regulatory roles in response to abiotic stress in tobacco and rice. Shumei Gao, Haiwen Zhang and Yun Tian contributed equally to this work.     

花烟草NaERF1基因的克隆及在非生物胁迫下的表达模式分析

AP2/ERF类转录因子,是植物所特有的最大的一类转录因子家族,在植物的生长发育过程中,扮演着重要的角色。探究花烟草ERF转录因子的生理功能,为花烟草抵御逆境的分子机制研究提供借鉴。采用同源克隆的方法进行基因克隆。通过对花烟草进行非生物胁迫,运用qPCR的方法进行基因表达模式分析。从花烟草(Nicotiana alata)中克隆了一个属于ERF家族的基因NaERF1。该基因的开放阅读框全长为819 bp,编码了272个氨基酸。生物信息学分析结果表明,该基因编码的蛋白分子量为30.7 kD,等电点为6.07;具有AP2/ERF类转录因子家族典型的保守结构域;该基因主要定位于细胞质内,并含有多个磷酸化位点。同源性分析的结果显示,NaERF1基因与茄科植物的ERF同源性较高,并且与普通烟草的ERF亲缘关系最近。NaERF1基因的表达具有组织表达特异性,花中表达量最高,茎中次之,根和叶中表达量较低。同时,在高盐、干旱、低温、ABA、低钾及H2O2等非生物胁迫下,NaERF1的表达呈现5种模式。其中,对低钾及ABA胁迫的响应强烈。NaERF1基因属于AP2/ERF类转录因子,可能广泛参与了花烟草包括非生物胁迫响应在内的众多生理过程。     

Ectopic Expression of StERF94 Transcription Factor in Potato Plants Improved Resistance to Fusarium solani Infection

ERF proteins (ethylene-responsive factors), which belong to the AP2/ERF superfamily, play essential roles in plant development, growth, and response to abiotic and biotic constraints. In a previous study, we cloned a cDNA encoding the StERF94 factor from potato plants and the phylogenetic analyses showed that it belongs to group IX of the ERF family. Genes of this group are known to be involved in plant response to biotic stress. The StERF94 cDNA was overexpressed in transgenic potato plants and the resulting transgenic plants showed a high tolerance to salinity. In this study, we investigated the response of StERF94 transgenic plants to biotic stress by evaluating their resistance to Fusarium solani infection. A significant enhanced resistance to the fungus was noticed in the transgenic plants which displayed limited malondialdehyde and H₂O₂ production and increasing antioxidant enzyme activities. Our findings also revealed that overexpression of StERF94 in potato enhanced expression of relevant defense genes like those encoding PR proteins (pathogenesis related) which led to a protection against disease propagation and reduction of fungus development in plant tissues.

     

Overexpression of ethylene response factor <Emphasis Type="Italic">TERF2</Emphasis> confers cold tolerance in rice seedlings

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a warm-season plant exposed to various stresses. Low temperature is an important factor limiting extension of rice cultivation areas and productivity. Previously, we have demonstrated that tomato ERF protein TERF2 enhances freezing tolerance of transgenic tobacco and tomato plants. Herein, we report that overexpression of TERF2 enhances transgenic rice tolerance to cold without affecting growth or agronomic traits. Physiological assays revealed that TERF2 could not only increase accumulation of osmotic substances and chlorophyll, but also reduce reactive oxygen species (ROS) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content and decrease electrolyte leakage in rice under cold stress. Further analysis of gene expression showed that TERF2 could activate expression of cold-related genes, including OsMyb, OsICE1, OsCDPK7, OsSODB, OsFer1, OsTrx23, and OsLti6, in transgenic rice plants under natural condition or cold stress. Thus, our findings demonstrated that TERF2 modulated expression of stress-related genes and a series of physiological adjustments under cold stress, indicating that TERF2 might have important regulatory roles in response to abiotic stress in rice and possess potential utility in improving crop cold tolerance.     

油葵HaGPAT1基因的克隆及表达分析

该研究利用RT-PCR技术,从油葵(Helianthus annuus L.)种子中克隆了甘油-3-磷酸酰基转移酶(GPAT)基因(HaGPAT1),对其进行生物信息学分析,并通过实时荧光定量PCR技术(qRT-PCR)检测该基因在不同组织、种子不同发育时期以及不同胁迫条件下的表达特征。结果表明:HaGPAT1基因全长为1 656bp,编码551个氨基酸,相对分子量为62.132kD,等电点为8.84。系统进化树分析表明,HaGPAT1蛋白与高等植物莴苣的GPAT1亲缘关系最近。qRT-PCR分析表明,HaGPAT1基因在油葵花蕊中的表达水平最高,开花后17d的种子中次之;在干旱和盐胁迫条件下,HaGPAT1基因的表达水平均显著上调。研究推测,HaGAT1基因可能在油葵花器官发育中发挥重要作用,并且参与了油葵对干旱和高盐的抗性调节。