Genome-wide analysis of the AREB/ABF gene lineage in land plants and functional analysis of TaABF3 in Arabidopsis
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Genome-wide analysis of the AREB/ABF gene lineage in land plants and functional analysis of TaABF3 in Arabidopsis Fangfang Li†, Fangming Mei†, Yifang Zhang, Shumin Li, Zhensheng Kang* and Hude Mao*
Abstract Background: Previous studies have shown that ABFs (abscisic acid-responsive transcription factors) are important ABA-signaling components that participate in abiotic stress response. However, little is known about the function of ABFs in Triticum aestivum. In addition, although various ABFs have been identified in other species, the phylogenetic relationship between ABF transcription factors has not been systemically investigated in land plants. Results: In this study, we systemically collected ABFs from land plants and analyzed the phylogenetic relationship of these ABF genes. The ABF genes are present in all the land plants we investigated, including moss, lycophyte, monocots, and eudicots. Furthermore, these ABF genes are phylogenetically divided into seven subgroups, differentiations that are supported by variation in the gene structure, protein properties, and motif patterns. We further demonstrated that the expression of ABF genes varies among different tissues and developmental stages, and are induced by one or more environmental stresses. Furthermore, we found that three wheat ABFs (TaABF1, TaABF2, and TaABF3) were significantly induced by drought stress. Compared with wild-type (WT) plants, transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing TaABF3 displayed enhanced drought tolerance. Conclusions: These results provide important ground work for understanding the phylogenetic relationships between plant ABF genes. Our results also indicate that TaABFs may participate in regulating plant response to abiotic stresses. Keywords: ABFs, Land plants, Phylogenetic relationship, Expression analysis, TaABFs, Drought stress
Background Drought is a major environmental stressor that affects plant growth, survival, distribution, and productivity. Plants have evolved complex mechanisms in molecular, cellular, and physiological processes to respond to environmental stresses in order to survive [1]. Stressful conditions induce the production of stress response genes in plants [2, 3]. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) is an important hormone that regulates some critical * Correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected] † Fangfang Li and Fangming Mei contributed equally to this work. State Key Laboratory of Crop Stress Biology for Arid Areas and College of Plant Protection, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, People’s Republic of China
biological processes in plants, such as stomatal movement, adaptation to drought stress, and seed germination [4–7]. The endogenous ABA is produced when plants encounter adverse environmental stresses such as prolonged periods of osmotic stress. Several stressresponsive genes were expressed due to these increased ABA levels. Additional research indicates that many stress-responsive genes can also be induced by the exogenous application
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