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A tomato bZIP transcription factor, SlAREB, is involved in water deficit and salt stress response

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Abstract

Abiotic stresses such as cold, water deficit, and salt stresses severely reduce crop productivity. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) is an important economic crop; however, not much is known about its stress responses. To gain insight into stress-responsive gene regulation in tomato plants, we identified transcription factors from a tomato cDNA microarray. An ABA-responsive element binding protein (AREB) was identified and named SlAREB. In tomato protoplasts, SlAREB transiently transactivated luciferase reporter gene expression driven by AtRD29A (responsive to dehydration) and SlLAP (leucine aminopeptidase) promoters with exogenous ABA application, which was suppressed by the kinase inhibitor staurosporine, indicating that an ABA-dependent post-translational modification is required for the transactivation ability of SlAREB protein. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that the recombinant DNA-binding domain of SlAREB protein is able to bind AtRD29A and SlLAP promoter regions. Constitutively expressed SlAREB increased tolerance to water deficit and high salinity stresses in both Arabidopsis and tomato plants, which maintained PSII and membrane integrities as well as water content in plant bodies. Overproduction of SlAREB in Arabidopsis thaliana and tomato plants regulated stress-related genes AtRD29A, AtCOR47, and SlCI7-like dehydrin under ABA and abiotic stress treatments. Taken together, these results show that SlAREB functions to regulate some stress-responsive genes and that its overproduction improves plant tolerance to water deficit and salt stress.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

ABRE:

ABA-responsive element

AREB:

ABA-responsive element binding protein

SlAREB:

Solanum lycopersicum ABA-responsive element binding protein

RD29A:

Responsive to dehydration 29A

LAP:

Leucine aminopeptidase

CI7:

Cold-induced 7

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Acknowledgments

We appreciate the efforts of Wei-Chou Houng, Ho-Ming Chen, Pei-Wen Cheng, Chi-Jia Peng, Jung-Pin Wu, and the Bioinformatics Core Laboratory of Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center in array printing and establishment of the database. We thank Dr. Su-Chiung Fang (Academia Sinica Biotechnology Center in Southern Taiwan) for helpful discussions and grammar correction. Tsai-Hung Hsieh, Chia-Wen Li, and Ruey-Chih Su contributed equally to this work. This research was supported by Academia Sinica, and grants NSC-92-2311-B-001-071 and NSC-95-2311-B-001-003 from the National Science Council of the Republic of China.

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Author notes

  1. Tsai-Hung Hsieh,  Sanjaya & Yi-Chien Tsai

    Present address: Institute of Plant and Microbial Biology, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Tsai-Hung Hsieh,  Sanjaya & Yi-Chien Tsai

  2. Academia Sinica, Biotechnology Center in Southern Taiwan, Tainan, 74146, Taiwan

    Chia-Wen Li & Ming-Tsair Chan

  3. Department of Life Science, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, 24205, Taiwan

    Ruey-Chih Su

  4. Institute of Plant Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106, Taiwan

    Chiu-Ping Cheng

  5. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center, MSU, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Sanjaya

  6. Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 115, Taiwan

    Yi-Chien Tsai

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  1. Tsai-Hung Hsieh
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Correspondence to Ming-Tsair Chan.

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T.-H. Hsieh, C. -W. Li and R.-C. Su contributed equally to this work.

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Hsieh, TH., Li, CW., Su, RC. et al. A tomato bZIP transcription factor, SlAREB, is involved in water deficit and salt stress response. Planta 231, 1459–1473 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-010-1147-4

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