Abstract
BackgroundEthylene-responsive factors (ERFs) play important roles in plant growth and development and the response to adverse environmental factors, including abiotic and biotic stresses.ResultsIn the present study, we identified 160 soybean ERF genes distributed across 20 chromosomes that could be clustered into eight groups based on phylogenetic relationships. A highly ABA-responsive ERF gene, GmERF75, belonging to Group VII was further characterized. Subcellular localization analysis showed that the GmERF75 protein is localized in the nucleus, and qRT-PCR results showed that GmERF75 is responsive to multiple abiotic stresses and exogenous hormones. GmERF75-overexpressing Arabidopsis lines showed higher chlorophyll content compared to WT and mutants under osmotic stress. Two independent Arabidopsis mutations of AtERF71, a gene homologous to GmERF75, displayed shorter hypocotyls, and overexpression of GmERF75 in these mutants could rescue the short hypocotyl phenotypes. Overexpressing GmERF75 in soybean hairy roots improved root growth under exogenous ABA and salt stress.ConclusionsThese results suggested that GmERF75 is an important plant transcription factor that plays a critical role in enhancing osmotic tolerance in both Arabidopsis and soybean.
Highlights
Ethylene-responsive factors (ERFs) play important roles in plant growth and development and the response to adverse environmental factors, including abiotic and biotic stresses
According to the soybean genome database, 160 soybean ERFs were distributed across 20 chromosomes (Fig. 1)
There were 17 ERF genes distributed in chromosome 13, but only 3 in chromosome 12 (Fig. 1)
Summary
Ethylene-responsive factors (ERFs) play important roles in plant growth and development and the response to adverse environmental factors, including abiotic and biotic stresses. Plants have a complex and elaborate regulation mechanism to defense the environmental factors including abiotic and biotic stresses [1, 2]. APETALA2/Ethylene Responsive Factor (AP2/ERF) superfamily, a large gene family in plant, play important roles in signal transduction, plant growth and development, and involved in biotic and abiotic stresses response [6]. According to its conservative domain, AP2/ERF can be divided into three major families: APETALA2(AP2), Ethylene Responsive Factor (ERF), and RELATED TO ABSCISIC ACID INSENSITIVE 3/VIVIPAROUS 1 (RAV) [7]. ERFs play diverse roles in plants throughout different development stage, such as seed germination, tissue formation, flower stage, response to biotic and abiotic
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