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Regulation of genes that are induced by drought stress inArabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract

Plants respond to drought with physiological and developmental changes. Many plant genes have been shown to be induced by drought stress and function in drought tolerance. We isolated nine independent genes that are responsive to drought inArabidopsis thaliana and analyzed the structure of their gene products. Sequence analyses of these genes indicate that their gene products may function in protecting cells from dehydration. We also analyzed the expression of these genes under various stress conditions. Some of the drought-responsive genes are induced by plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA), but others are not. There seem to be at least three independent signal transduction pathways between initial drought stress signal and gene expression. Two of the pathways are ABA-dependent, but one is ABA-independent. Protein synthesis is necessary for one of the ABA-dependent pathways. We precisely analyzed the promoter of two drought-inducibleArabidopsis genes,rd29A andrd29B, in transgenic plants, and identified a novelcis-acting element containing 9 bp, TACCGACAT (DRE, Dehydration Responsive Element), that is involved in the ABA-independent response ofrd29A to conditions of dehydration or high salt. DRE is also involved in the induction by low temperature, but does not function in the ABA-responsive, slow expression ofrd29A. One ofmyb-related genes,Atmyb2, that is responsive to water stress and abscisic acid (ABA) has been cloned fromArabidopsis. Atmyb2 encodes a transcription factor and binds to conserved MYB recognition sequence. These results suggest that the ABA-mediated induction of drought-inducible genes whose expression requires protein synthesis may be regulated by the ATMYB2 protein.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biological Resources Division, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries, 2-1 Ohwashi, 305, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki

  2. Laboratory of Plant Molecular Biology, The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Tsukuba Life Science Center, 3-1-1 Koyadai, 305, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Takeshi Urao & Kazuo Shinozaki

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  1. Kazuko Yamaguchi-Shinozaki
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  2. Takeshi Urao
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  3. Kazuo Shinozaki
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Recipient of the Botanical Society Award of Young Scientists, 1993.

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Yamaguchi-Shinozaki, K., Urao, T. & Shinozaki, K. Regulation of genes that are induced by drought stress inArabidopsis thaliana . J. Plant Res. 108, 127–136 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02344316

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02344316

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