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MdBZR1 regulates ABA response by modulating the expression of MdABI5 in apple

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MdBZR1 directly binds to the promoter of MdABI5 and suppresses its expression to mediate ABA response.

Abstract

The plant hormones brassinosteroids (BRs) and abscisic acid (ABA) antagonistically regulate various aspects of plant growth and development. However, the association between BR and ABA signaling is less clear. Here, we identified MdBZR1 in apple (Malus domestica) and demonstrated that it was activated by BRs and could respond to ABA treatment. Overexpression of MdBZR1 in apple calli and Arabidopsis reduced ABA-hypersensitive phenotypes, suggesting that MdBZR1 negatively regulates ABA signaling. Subsequently, we found that MdBZR1 directly bound to the promoter region of MdABI5 and suppressed its expression. MdABI5 was significantly induced by ABA treatment. And overexpression of MdABI5 in apple calli increased sensitivity to ABA. Ectopic expression of MdABI5 in Arabidopsis inhibited seed germination and seedling growth. In addition, overexpression of MdBZR1 partially attenuated MdABI5-mediated ABA sensitivity. Taken together, our data indicate that MdBZR1 directly binds to the promoter of MdABI5 and suppresses its expression to antagonistically mediate ABA response. Our work contributes to the functional studies of BZR1 and further broadens the insight into the between BR and ABA signaling.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFD1000100), National Natural Science Foundation of China (32030097, 31772288), Shandong Province Program (TSCY20190126), Open funds of the State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement (ZW202008), Agricultural Variety Improvement Project of Shandong Province (2019LZGC007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Horticulture Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai-An, 271018, Shandong, China

    Ya-Jing Liu, Jian-Ping An, Xiao-Fei Wang, Ning Gao, Xun Wang, Yu-Jin Hao & Chun-Xiang You

  2. College of Chemistry and Material Science, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai-An, 271018, Shandong, China

    Shuai Zhang

  3. Shandong Fruit and Tea Technology Services, Jinan, 250013, Shandong, China

    Wen-Sheng Gao

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  1. Ya-Jing Liu
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Contributions

CXY and YJH planned and designed the research. YJL, JPA, XFW, NG, XW, SZ and WSG performed experiments, analyzed the data etc. YJL, YJH and CXY wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yu-Jin Hao or Chun-Xiang You.

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Communicated by Ying-Tang Lu.

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Liu, YJ., An, JP., Wang, XF. et al. MdBZR1 regulates ABA response by modulating the expression of MdABI5 in apple. Plant Cell Rep 40, 1127–1139 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-021-02692-7

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