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The bZIP transcription factor OsABF1 is an ABA responsive element binding factor that enhances abiotic stress signaling in rice

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Abstract

A number of basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors are known to function in stress signaling in plants but few have thus far been functionally characterized in rice. In our current study in rice, we have newly isolated and characterized the OsABF1 (Oryza sativa ABA responsive element binding factor 1) gene that encodes a bZIP transcription factor. Its expression in seedling shoots and roots was found to be induced by various abiotic stress treatments such as anoxia, salinity, drought, oxidative stress, cold and abscisic acid (ABA). Subcellular localization analysis in maize protoplasts using GFP fusion vectors indicated that OsABF1 is a nuclear protein. In a yeast experiment, OsABF1 was shown to bind to ABA responsive elements (ABREs) and its N-terminal region was necessary to transactivate the downstream reporter gene. The homozygous T-DNA insertional mutants Osabf1-1 and Osabf1-2 were more sensitive in response to drought and salinity treatments than wild type plants. Furthermore, the upregulated expression of some ABA/stress-regulated genes in response to ABA treatment was suppressed in these Osabf1 mutants. Our current results thus suggest that OsABF1 is involved in abiotic stress responses and ABA signaling in rice.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Soo Young Kim of Chonnam National University, Kwangju, Korea for providing the yeast strains. This work was supported by grants from the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government (MOEHRD, Basic Research Promotion Fund) (KRF-2005-070-C00128), and from the World Class University (R33-2008-000-10168-0) and Crop Functional Genomics Center (CG2111-2) programs funded by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, The University of Suwon, Hwasung, 445-743, Korea

    Md. Amir Hossain, Yongjoo Lee, Chul-Hyun Ahn & Phun Bum Park

  2. Graduate School of Biotechnology & Plant Metabolism Research Center, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, 446-701, Korea

    Jung-Il Cho, Sang-Kyu Lee & Jong-Seong Jeon

  3. Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Suwon, Hwasung, 445-743, Korea

    Hun Kang

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Pusan National University, Pusan, 609-735, Korea

    Choon-Hwan Lee

  5. National Research Laboratory of Plant Functional Genomics, Department of Life Science, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Pohang, 790-784, Korea

    Gynheung An

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  1. Md. Amir Hossain
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  2. Yongjoo Lee
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Correspondence to Phun Bum Park.

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11103_2009_9592_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Supplementary Fig. S1. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis of the OsABF1 protein in comparison with other bZIP proteins. Amino acid alignment of OsABF1 with the bZIP proteins, OsbZIP40 (AAT07607), GBF4 (BAF00453), and AtbZIP13 (NP_199221) is shown. Blast analysis was performed using the NCBI-P blast program. The Clustal W-PBI program was used for multiple sequence alignments. The double underline represents the basic region and leucine repeat whereas the single underlines indicate the conserved regions. (PDF 84 kb)

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Amir Hossain, M., Lee, Y., Cho, JI. et al. The bZIP transcription factor OsABF1 is an ABA responsive element binding factor that enhances abiotic stress signaling in rice. Plant Mol Biol 72, 557–566 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-009-9592-9

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