Abstract
RcNAC72, a key transcription factor that may respond to drought stress in Rosa chinensis ‘Old Blush’, was selected in our previous study. In the present study, we found that RcNAC72 is localized in the nucleus and is a transcriptional activator. RcNAC72 expression could be significantly induced by drought, low temperature, salt as well as abscisic acid (ABA) treatment. Analysis of the promoter revealed that multiple abiotic stress and hormone response elements were located in the promoter region. The promoter could respond to drought, low temperature, salt and ABA treatments to activate GUS gene expression. Overexpressing RcNAC72 in Arabidopsis thaliana enhanced sensitivity to ABA and tolerance to drought stress. Silencing of RcNAC72 by virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) in rose leaves significantly reduced leaf water loss tolerance and leaf extension capacity. Physical interaction of RcNAC72 with RcDREB2A was shown by means of the yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays. RcABF4 was demonstrated to be able to bind to the promoter of RcNAC72 by means of the yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assay. These results provide new insights into the regulatory network of RcNAC72 response to drought stress in roses.
Highlights
Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses, and drought stress is increasing with climate warming [1,2]
Protein multiple sequence alignment analysis showed that RcNAC72 protein had a conserved NAC domain in the N-terminal region which can be divided into five subdomains, A to E (Figure S1A)
A drought-responsive NAC transcription factor RcNAC72 was identified, which was a homolog of Arabidopsis ANAC072
Summary
Drought is one of the most important abiotic stresses, and drought stress is increasing with climate warming [1,2]. Drought stress inhibits plant growth, development and yield [3]. Plants have evolved a range of regulatory mechanisms to adapt to drought. These responses are a complex regulatory network. Transcription factors, as regulatory proteins, can recognize cis-acting elements and play a crucial role as molecular switches that regulate downstream genes expression [4]. Studies have shown that different types of TFs exhibit vital roles in plant response to drought stress [5,6,7,8]. In order to understand the regulatory network of plant response to drought stress, one can start with the study of transcription factors
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