Abstract
Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are a large protein family that mainly function in protecting cells from abiotic stress, but these proteins are also involved in regulating plant growth and development. In this study, we performed a functional analysis of LEA13 and LEA30 from Arabidopsis thaliana. The results showed that the expression of both genes increased when plants were subjected to drought-stressed conditions. The insertional lines lea13 and lea30 were identified for each gene, and both had a T-DNA element in the regulatory region, which caused the genes to be downregulated. Moreover, lea13 and lea30 were more sensitive to drought stress due to their higher transpiration and stomatal spacing. Microarray analysis of the lea13 background showed that genes involved in hormone signaling, stomatal development, and abiotic stress responses were misregulated. Our results showed that LEA proteins are involved in drought tolerance and participate in stomatal density.
Highlights
Abiotic stresses, such as drought, high salinity, heat, cold and freezing, are severe environmental stresses that impair productivity and quality in crop systems and cause extensive losses to agricultural production worldwide because they affect both vegetative and reproductive plant development
Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are involved in the tolerance to drought stress [15,20,21]
Based on the previously reported CaLEA73 gene function, LEA13 and LEA30 were identified in the present study
Summary
Abiotic stresses, such as drought, high salinity, heat, cold and freezing, are severe environmental stresses that impair productivity and quality in crop systems and cause extensive losses to agricultural production worldwide because they affect both vegetative and reproductive plant development. Late embryogenesis abundant proteins (LEA proteins) are a group of proteins that were first identified in cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) during the late stages of embryogenesis [1] They have been found in other organs in different plants, especially under stress conditions such as cold, high salinity, and drought [5,9,10]. A search of the Arabidopsis database using the BLAST algorithm was performed to identify sequences related to CaLEA73 and select LEA genes for functional analysis. To determine cis-acting regulatory elements, we queried the sequence of each promoter, analyzed, and identified the presence of various stress-responsive cis-acting regulatory elements, including DRE/CRT, ABRE, LTRE, and MYBS These stress-responsive elements were relatively abundant in both promoters of the LEA genes, ABRE for LEA13 and DRE for LEA30 (Figure S1). These in silico findings suggested responsiveness to abiotic stress for both LEA genes
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