Abstract
Abiotic stresses, such as drought, high temperature, and salinity, affect plant growth and productivity. Furthermore, global climate change may increase the frequency and severity of abiotic stresses, suggesting that development of varieties with improved stress tolerance is critical for future sustainable crop production. Improving stress tolerance requires a detailed understanding of the hormone signaling and transcriptional pathways involved in stress responses. Abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) are key stress-response hormones in plants, and some stress-responsive transcription factors such as ABFs and MYCs function as direct components of ABA and JA signaling, playing a pivotal role in plant tolerance to abiotic stress. In addition, extensive studies have identified other stress-responsive transcription factors belonging to the NAC, AP2/ERF, MYB, and WRKY families that mediate plant response and tolerance to abiotic stress. These suggest that transcriptional regulation of stress-responsive genes is an essential step to determine the mechanisms underlying plant stress responses and tolerance to abiotic stress, and that these transcription factors may be important targets for development of crops with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance. In this review, we briefly describe the mechanisms underlying plant abiotic stress responses, focusing on ABA and JA metabolism and signaling pathways. We then summarize the diverse array of transcription factors involved in plant responses to abiotic stress, while noting their potential applications for improvement of stress tolerance.
Highlights
Stress-responsive transcription factors play essential roles in abiotic stress responses and stress tolerance [1,2]
We summarize the diverse array of transcription factors involved in plant responses to abiotic stress, while noting their potential applications for improvement of stress tolerance
Experimental and computational approaches have identified other stress-responsive transcription factors belonging to the NAC, APETALA 2/ETHYLENE-RESPONSIVE FACTOR (AP2/ETHYLENE-RESPONSIVE FACTOR (ERF)), MYB, and WRKY families, which are not direct components of abscisic acid (ABA) and jasmonic acid (JA) signaling pathways but are essential for plant abiotic stress responses
Summary
Stress-responsive transcription factors play essential roles in abiotic stress responses and stress tolerance [1,2] These stress-responsive transcription factors may be important targets for developing crops with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance [3]. ABA signaling pathways activate target transcription factors, such as the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) ABA-responsive element binding factor (ABF) transcription factors, and JA signaling pathways activate the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) MYC transcription factors. These transcription factors control ABA- and JA-dependent expression of stress-responsive genes, as demonstrated using knock-out and overexpression systems [6,7,8]. We summarize other stress-responsive transcription factor families, such as NAC, AP2/ERF, MYB, and WRKY, which are involved in abiotic stress tolerance, and discuss studies using these transcription factors to improve abiotic stress tolerance in plants
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