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MAX4 gene is involved in the regulation of low inorganic phosphate stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract:

MAX4 gene has been shown to be involved in the regulation of shoot branching in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). However, little is known about the role of MAX4 gene in low inorganic phosphate (Pi) stress response in Arabidopsis. Here we showed that MAX4 gene is involved in the regulation of low Pi stress response in Arabidopsis. MAX4 gene was repressed by low Pi stress, and the max4 mutants showed lower anthocyanin content and longer primary root length. In addition, max4 mutant plants also displayed altered root architecture such as increased root-to-shoot ratio, lower lateral root number and root hair density compared with wild-type plants under low Pi stress. Higher total Pi contents were detected in shoots and roots of max4 plants than those of wild-type plants when subjected to low Pi stress, which was associated, at least in part, with increase in expression of WRKY75 as well as AtPT1 and AtPT2 genes encoding high-affinity Pi transporters. Taken together, all these results suggest that MAX4 gene mediates low Pi stress response, at least in part, by regulating the expression of WRKY75 as well as AtPT1 and AtPT2 genes.

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Abbreviations

AtACP5 :

Acid phosphatase 5

AtIPS1 :

Induced by phosphate starvation 1

AtPHR1 :

Phosphate starvation response 1

AtPT1 :

Arabidopsis thaliana phosphate transporter 1

AtPT2 :

Arabidopsis thaliana phosphate transporter 2

AtRNS1 :

Ribonuclease 1

AtSIZ1 :

Arabidopsis SUMO E3 ligase sap and miz1

MAX4 :

More axillary branching 4

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

Pi:

Inorganic phosphate

QPCR:

Quantitative real-time PCR

RT:

Reverse transcription

WRKY75 :

Wrky DNA-binding protein 75

WT:

Wild-type

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Zhenyi Chen, Xiaohui Bian, Shengchao Lv and Weiwei Meng for their technical assistances. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 20777014), the National Transgenic Plant R&D Project of China (2009ZX08009-063B), the Great Project of Natural Science Foundation at Anhui Provincial Education Department (KJ2010ZD04), and the Funds for Creative Research Groups of Hefei University of Technology (2009HGCX0233).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology and Food Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, No. 193 Tunxi Road, Hefei, 230009, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Li Jiang, Hongyong Jian, Jiazhong Qian, Zehua Sun, Zhaojun Wei & Shuqing Cao

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230009, Anhui, China

    Xueping Chen

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  1. Li Jiang
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  2. Hongyong Jian
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  3. Jiazhong Qian
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Correspondence to Shuqing Cao.

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Communicated by J.-H. Liu.

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Jiang, L., Jian, H., Qian, J. et al. MAX4 gene is involved in the regulation of low inorganic phosphate stress responses in Arabidopsis thaliana. Acta Physiol Plant 33, 867–875 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-010-0612-9

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