Journal Article Epublish
PubMed: 40244391 DOI: 10.3390/ijms26073455
Overexpression of the Transcription Factor Increases Salt and Drought Tolerance in Soybean ().
Int J Mol Sci 26(7)
Authors: Mengnan Chai, Fan Yang, Shuping Cai, Tingyu Liu, Xiaoyuan Xu, Youmei Huang, Xinpeng Xi, Jiahong Yang, Zhuangyuan Cao, Ling Sun, Danlin Dou, Xunlian Fang, Maokai Yan, Hanyang Cai
Affiliations
- Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Haixia Applied Plant Systems Biology, State Key Laboratory of Ecological Pest Control for Fujian and Taiwan Crops, Haixia Institute of Science and Technology, School of Future Technology, College of Life Sciences, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350000, China.
- State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Sugarcane Biology, College of Agriculture, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
Abstract
The regulation of downstream responsive genes by transcription factors (TFs) is a critical step in the stress response system of plants. While bZIP transcription factors are known to play important roles in stress reactions, their functional characterization in soybeans remains limited. Here, we identified a soybean bZIP gene, , which encodes a protein containing a typical bZIP domain with a basic region and a leucine zipper region. Subcellular localization studies confirmed that is localized in the nucleus. Expression analysis demonstrated that is induced by salt stress, drought stress, and various plant hormone treatments, including abscisic acid (ABA), ethylene (ETH), and methyl jasmonate acid (MeJA). Overexpressing () in transgenic soybean and rice enhanced tolerance to both salt and drought stresses. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis indicated that the expression levels of abiotic stress-responsive genes were significantly higher in transgenic plants than in wild-type (WT) plants under stress conditions. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-qPCR (ChIP-qPCR) analysis further confirmed that GmbZIP60 directly binds to the promoters of abiotic stress-related genes induced by ABA, ETH, JA, and salicylic acid (SA). Overall, these findings revealed as a positive regulator of salt and drought stress tolerance.
MeSH
Genes, Droughts, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Transcription Factors, Stress, Physiological