A Glycine soja group S2 bZIP transcription factor GsbZIP67 conferred bicarbonate alkaline tolerance in Medicago sativa

18Citations
Citations of this article
12Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Background: Even though bicarbonate alkaline stress is a serious threat to crop growth and yields, it attracts much fewer researches than high salinity stress. The basic leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factors have been well demonstrated to function in diverse abiotic stresses; however, their biological role in alkaline tolerance still remains elusive. In this study, we functionally characterized a bZIP gene from Glycine soja GsbZIP67 in bicarbonate alkaline stress responses. Results: GsbZIP67 was initially identified as a putative bicarbonate responsive gene, on the basis of previous RNA-seq data of 50mM NaHCO3-treated Glycine soja roots. GsbZIP67 protein possessed a conserved bZIP domain, and belonged to the group S2 bZIP, which is yet less well-studied. Our studies showed that GsbZIP67 targeted to nucleus in Arabidopsis protoplasts, and displayed transcriptional activation activity in yeast cells. The quantitative real-time PCR analyses unraveled the bicarbonate stress responsive expression and tissue specific expression of GsbZIP67 in wild soybean. Further phenotypic analysis illustrated that GsbZIP67 overexpression in alfalfa promoted plant growth under bicarbonate alkaline stress, as evidenced by longer roots and shoots. Furthermore, GsbZIP67 overexpression also modified the physiological indices of transgenic alfalfa under bicarbonate alkaline stress. In addition, the expression levels of several stress responsive genes were also augmented by GsbZIP67 overexpression. Conclusions: Collectively, in this study, we demonstrated that GsbZIP67 acted as a positive regulator of plant tolerance to bicarbonate alkaline stress. These results provide direct genetic evidence of group S2 bZIPs in bicarbonate alkaline stress, and will facilitate further studies concerning the cis-elements and/or downstream genes targeted by GsbZIP67 in stress responses.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Wu, S., Zhu, P., Jia, B., Yang, J., Shen, Y., Cai, X., … Sun, M. (2018). A Glycine soja group S2 bZIP transcription factor GsbZIP67 conferred bicarbonate alkaline tolerance in Medicago sativa. BMC Plant Biology, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-018-1466-3

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free