Abstract
BackgroundThe APETALA2/ethylene response factor (AP2/ERF) family are important regulatory factors involved in plants’ response to environmental stimuli. However, their roles in salt tolerance in Lotus corniculatus remain unclear.ResultsHere, the key salt-responsive transcription factor LcERF056 was cloned and characterised. LcERF056 belonging to the B3–1 (IX) subfamily of ERFs was considerably upregulated by salt treatment. LcERF056-fused GFP was exclusively localised to nuclei. Furthermore, LcERF056- overexpression (OE) transgenic Arabidopsis and L. corniculatus lines exhibited significantly high tolerance to salt treatment compared with wild-type (WT) or RNA interference expression (RNAi) transgenic lines at the phenotypic and physiological levels. Transcriptome analysis of OE, RNAi, and WT lines showed that LcERF056 regulated the downstream genes involved in several metabolic pathways. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (ChIP-qPCR) and yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assay demonstrated that LcERF056 could bind to cis-element GCC box or DRE of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related genes such as lipid-transfer protein, peroxidase and ribosomal protein.ConclusionOur results suggested that the key regulator LcERF056 plays important roles in salt tolerance in L. corniculatus by modulating ROS-related genes. Therefore, it may be a useful target for engineering salt-tolerant L. corniculatus or other crops.
Highlights
The APETALA2/ethylene response factor (AP2/ERF) family are important regulatory factors involved in plants’ response to environmental stimuli
Phylogenetic tree (Fig. S1B) analysis suggested that LcERF056 was closely related to AtERF013 and belonged to the B3–1 (IX) group of ERF transcription factor family (Fig. S1C)
In this study, the key salt-responsive LcERF056 belonging to B3–1 (IX) subfamily was cloned and characterised, which was considerably upregulated by salt treatment and localised in nuclei as a transcriptional activator
Summary
The APETALA2/ethylene response factor (AP2/ERF) family are important regulatory factors involved in plants’ response to environmental stimuli. Their roles in salt tolerance in Lotus corniculatus remain unclear. Salinity is one of the most widespread abiotic stresses that limits plant growth and crop productivity. 7% of the land area and 19.5% of arable lands worldwide are under salt stress [1]. Salt exerts detrimental effects on plants by causing osmotic stress, ion imbalance, and oxidative toxicity. Transcription factors (TFs) have crucial functions in plant growth and development and environmental stress responses. It comprises a well-conserved AP2/ERF domain consisting of
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