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CarNAC2, a novel NAC transcription factor in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), is associated with drought-response and various developmental processes in transgenic arabidopsis

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Abstract

As a large family of regulatory proteins, NAC (for NAM, ATAF1,2 and CUC2) proteins play important roles in various plant developmental processes and response to environmental stresses. Several studies have investigated the role of NAC transcription factors during these processes. In the present study, a gene encoding a NAC protein from chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), CarNAC2, which encodes a putative protein of 191 amino acids, was isolated and characterized. Analyses of mRNA levels revealed that the expression of CarNAC2 was up-regulated by drought and ABA (abscisic acid). CarNAC2::GFP fusion protein was localized in the nucleus. Yeast one-hybrid assay showed that CarNAC2 possesses transcriptional activation activity which was located in the C-terminal region. Overexpression of CarNAC2 enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants. In addition, transgenic plant overexpressing CarNAC2 displayed lower germination vigor and later blooming than wild type plants. Overall, our findings suggest that CarNAC2 protein as a transcriptional activator is involved in response to drought stress and various developmental processes in chickpea.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Xingwang Yu, Yanmin Liu, Yan Zhang, Yingjie Shu & Hao Ma

  2. Key Laboratory of Ecology of Rare and Endangered Species and Environmental Protection (Guangxi Normal University), Ministry of Education, China, College of Life Sciences, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, 541004, China

    Hui Peng

  3. College of Agriculture, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, 830052, China

    Quanjia Chen, Shubing Shi, Lin Ma & Hua Zhang

  4. Institute of Desert in the Arid Areas, College of Grassland and environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, 830052, China

    Hao Ma & Hua Zhang

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  1. Xingwang Yu
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  2. Hui Peng
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  3. Yanmin Liu
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  4. Yan Zhang
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  8. Lin Ma
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  9. Hao Ma
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  10. Hua Zhang
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Correspondence to Hao Ma or Hua Zhang.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Yu, X., Peng, H., Liu, Y. et al. CarNAC2, a novel NAC transcription factor in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), is associated with drought-response and various developmental processes in transgenic arabidopsis. J. Plant Biol. 57, 55–66 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-013-0457-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12374-013-0457-z

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