RRC ID 81433
Author Dan Wang, Yuanyuan Zeng, Xiuxiu Yang, Shuming Nie
Title Characterization of DREB family genes in Lotus japonicus and LjDREB2B overexpression increased drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis
Journal BMC Plant Biology
Abstract Background Drought stress affects plant growth and development. DREB proteins play important roles in modulating plant growth, development, and stress responses, particularly under drought stress. To study the function of DREB transcription factors (TFs), we screened key DREB-regulating TFs for drought in Lotus japonicus. Results Forty-two DREB TFs were identified, and phylogenetic analysis of proteins from L. japonicus classified them into five subfamilies (A1, A2, A4, A5, A6). The gene motif composition of the proteins is conserved within the same subfamily. Based on the cis-acting regulatory element analysis, we identified many growth-, hormone-, and stress-responsive elements within the promoter regions of DREB. We further analyzed the expression pattern of four genes in the A2 subfamily in response to drought stress. We found that the expression of most of the LjDREB A2 subfamily genes, especially LjDREB2B, was induced by drought stress. We further generated LjDREB2B overexpression transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Under drought stress, the growth of wild-type (WT) and overexpressing LjDREB2B (OE) Arabidopsis lines was inhibited; however, OE plants showed better growth. The malondialdehyde content of LjDREB2B overexpressing lines was lower than that of the WT plants, whereas the proline content and antioxidant enzyme activities in the OE lines were significantly higher than those in the WT plants. Furthermore, after drought stress, the expression levels of AtP5CS1, AtP5CS2, AtRD29A, and AtRD29B in the OE lines were significantly higher than those in the WT plants. Conclusions Our results facilitate further functional analysis of L. japonicus DREB. LjDREB2B overexpression improves drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis. These results indicate that DREB holds great potential for the genetic improvement of drought tolerance in L. japonicus.
Volume 24
Published 2024-6-4
DOI 10.1186/s12870-024-05225-y
PMID 39075356
PMC PMC11285619
MeSH Arabidopsis / genetics Arabidopsis / physiology Drought Resistance* / genetics Gene Expression Regulation, Plant Genes, Plant Lotus* / genetics Lotus* / physiology Phylogeny Plant Proteins* / genetics Plant Proteins* / metabolism Plants, Genetically Modified / genetics Stress, Physiological / genetics Transcription Factors* / genetics Transcription Factors* / metabolism
IF 3.497
Resource
Lotus / Glycine MG20