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A Stress-Responsive CaM-Binding Transcription Factor, bZIP4, Confers Abiotic Stress Resistance in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors (TFs) function as regulators of many key developmental and physiological processes in all eukaryotes. In this study, we characterized the function of Arabidopsis bZIP4, a group S bZIP, whose function was not known. We confirmed that bZIP4 localizes to the nucleus and has DNA-binding affinity. By qRT-PCR and GUS histochemical analysis, we showed that bZIP4 is specifically expressed in root and that its expression is induced by abiotic stress and ABA. By phenotypic analysis, we demonstrated that the root length and the germination rate of bZIP4 overexpression (bZIP4-Ox) were significantly longer and higher than those of the WT and bZIP4-SRDX under higher salt and glucose concentrations, indicating that bZIP4-Ox is insensitive and tolerant to abiotic stress. Despite that, we found that bZIP4-Ox had enhanced expression of genes encoding protein phosphatases suppressing ABA responsiveness. We also confirmed that bZIP4 interacts with CaM1 and showed that its DNA-binding affinity is inhibited by interaction with CaM1. We propose a model in which the increased cytosolic calcium concentration under stress conditions activates CaM1 to bind bZIP4 to remove it from promoters of genes encoding ABA negative regulators, allowing the plants to operate on a typical ABA signaling pathway.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

BiFC:

Bimolecular fluorescence complementation

bZIP4:

Basic region leucine zipper protein 4

CaM1:

Calmodulin1

CAMTA:

CaM-binding transcription activator

GFP:

Green fluorescence protein

GST:

Glutathione S-transferase

GUS:

Beta-glucuronidase

His:

Poly-histidine

K.O:

Knock-out

MS medium:

Murashige and skoog medium

Ox:

Overexpression

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction

RT-PCR:

Reverse transcription-PCR

TF:

Transcription factor

WT:

Wild type

X-gluc:

5-Bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl glucuronide

YFP:

Yellow fluorescence protein

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant (2019R1F1A1060014) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea government. This work was also partially supported by Korea University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Life Sciences, Korea University, Seoul, 02841, Korea

    Minsoo Noh, A. K. M. Mahmudul Huque, Yun Young Kim & Jeong Sheop Shin

  2. Corteva Agriscience Korea Ltd., Seoul, 04511, Korea

    Kwang Wook Jung

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  1. Minsoo Noh
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  2. A. K. M. Mahmudul Huque
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  3. Kwang Wook Jung
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  4. Yun Young Kim
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Contributions

Conceptualization, YYK, KWJ and JSS; validation, YYK and KWJ; formal analysis, YYK, MN and AKMMH; investigation, YYK, MN and AKMMH; writing–original draft preparation, MN; writing–review and editing, MN and JSS; supervision, YYK, and JSS; project administration and funding acquisition, JSS. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yun Young Kim or Jeong Sheop Shin.

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Noh, M., Huque, A.K.M.M., Jung, K.W. et al. A Stress-Responsive CaM-Binding Transcription Factor, bZIP4, Confers Abiotic Stress Resistance in Arabidopsis. J. Plant Biol. 64, 359–370 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-021-09315-4

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