A stress-responsive bZIP transcription factor OsbZIP62 improves drought and oxidative tolerance in rice

Shiqin Yang,Lijun Luo,Kai Xu,Tianfei Li,Liang Chen,Hui Xia,Shoujun Chen,Hongyan Liu

doi:10.1186/s12870-019-1872-1

Shiqin Yang, Lijun Luo + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-019-1872-1

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Abstract

BackgroundDrought is a major abiotic stress factor that influences the yield of crops. Basic leucine zipper motif (bZIP) transcription factors play an important regulatory role in plant drought stress responses. However, the functions of a number of bZIP transcription factors in rice are still unknown.ResultsIn this study, a novel drought stress-related bZIP transcription factor, OsbZIP62, was identified in rice. This gene was selected from a transcriptome analysis of several typical rice varieties with different drought tolerances. OsbZIP62 expression was induced by drought, hydrogen peroxide, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Overexpression of OsbZIP62-VP64 (OsbZIP62V) enhanced the drought tolerance and oxidative stress tolerance of transgenic rice, while osbzip62 mutants exhibited the opposite phenotype. OsbZIP62-GFP was localized to the nucleus, and the N-terminal sequence (amino acids 1–68) was necessary for the transcriptional activation activity of OsbZIP62. RNA-seq analysis showed that the expression of many stress-related genes (e.g., OsGL1, OsNAC10, and DSM2) was upregulated in OsbZIP62V plants. Moreover, OsbZIP62 could bind to the promoters of several putative target genes and could interact with stress/ABA-activated protein kinases (SAPKs).ConclusionsOsbZIP62 is involved in ABA signalling pathways and positively regulates rice drought tolerance by regulating the expression of genes associated with stress, and this gene could be used for the genetic modification of crops with improved drought tolerance.

Highlights

Drought is a major abiotic stress factor that influences the yield of crops
Phylogenetic analysis of the third subgroup members of Arabidopsis and rice Basic leucine zipper motif (bZIP) transcription factors showed that OsbZIP62, OsbZIP72 (LOC_Os09g28310), OsbZIP46 (LOC_Os06g10880) and OsbZIP23 (LOC_Os02g52780) were distributed on the same branch (Additional file 1: Figure S2) and that OsbZIP62 was near OsbZIP72, whose function is related to abscisic acid (ABA) and drought [24]
These results suggested that OsbZIP62 might play a similar role in plant ABA and drought responses

Summary

Introduction

Drought is a major abiotic stress factor that influences the yield of crops. Basic leucine zipper motif (bZIP) transcription factors play an important regulatory role in plant drought stress responses. Due to environmental pollution and climate change, plants frequently encounter various abiotic stresses (such as drought, heat, and salt) that influence their growth and development during the growth process. Drought is one of the major stress factors that severely affects plant growth and results in a series of physiological and biochemical changes [3]. ABA is one of the most widely studied plant hormones that modulate both plant growth and stress responses [5,6,7]. Studies have shown that ABA helps plants cope with abiotic stress mainly due to the participation of their receptors. SnRK2s subsequently activate downstream transcription factors by phosphorylation [8,9,10]

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