The Arabidopsis myb transcription factor MTF1 is a unidirectional regulator of susceptibility to Agrobacterium

Abstract

We recently described the Arabidopsis Myb transcription factor MTF1 that negatively regulates plant susceptibility to Agrobacteriummediated transformation. Roots of mtf1 mutant plants show increased susceptibility to several Agrobacterium strains, and complementing the mutants with a MTF1 cDNA decreases transformation susceptibility to wild-type levels. Here, we show that overexpression of MTF1 in a wild-type Arabidopsis background does not result in altered transformation susceptibility. However, MTF1 overexpressing plants show increased root length and larger and darker leaves, indicating that MTF1 plays a role in plant growth and development. MTF1 decreases Arabidopsis root susceptibility specifically to Agrobacterium but plant responses to the pathogens Alternaria brassicicola or Pseudomonas syringae pv Tomato were not altered. However, the homozygous MTF1 mutant mtf1-4 is resistant to Botrytis cinerea strain BO5–10 and is regulated through the ethylene signaling pathway mediated by upregulation of the AP2/ERF transcription factor ORA59.