The class B heat shock factor HSFB1 regulates heat tolerance in grapevine

Haiyang Chen; Xinna Liu; Shenchang Li; Ling Yuan; Huayuan Mu; Yi Wang; Yang Li; Wei Duan; Peige Fan; Zhenchang Liang; Lijun Wang

doi:10.1093/hr/uhad001

The class B heat shock factor HSFB1 regulates heat tolerance in grapevine

Hortic Res. 2023 Jan 4;10(3):uhad001. doi: 10.1093/hr/uhad001. eCollection 2023 Mar.

Authors

Haiyang Chen^{1

2

3}, Xinna Liu^{1

2

3}, Shenchang Li^{1

2

3}, Ling Yuan^{4

5}, Huayuan Mu^{1

2

3}, Yi Wang^{1

2}, Yang Li^{1

2}, Wei Duan^{1

2}, Peige Fan^{1

2}, Zhenchang Liang^{1

2}, Lijun Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing Key Laboratory of Grape Science and Enology and Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China.
² China National Botanical Garden, Beijing 100093, China.
³ University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁴ Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40546, USA.
⁵ Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510650, China.

Abstract

Grape is a widely cultivated crop with high economic value. Most cultivars derived from mild or cooler climates may not withstand increasing heat stress. Therefore, dissecting the mechanisms of heat tolerance in grapes is of particular significance. Here, we performed comparative transcriptome analysis of Vitis davidii 'Tangwei' (heat tolerant) and Vitis vinifera 'Jingxiu' (heat sensitive) grapevines after exposure to 25°C, 40°C, or 45°C for 2 h. More differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were detected in 'Tangwei' than in 'Jingxiu' in response to heat stress, and the number of DEGs increased with increasing treatment temperatures. We identified a class B Heat Shock Factor, HSFB1, which was significantly upregulated in 'Tangwei', but not in 'Jingxiu', at high temperature. VdHSFB1 from 'Tangwei' and VvHSFB1 from 'Jingxiu' differ in only one amino acid, and both showed similar transcriptional repression activities. Overexpression and RNA interference of HSFB1 in grape indicated that HSFB1 positively regulates the heat tolerance. Moreover, the heat tolerance of HSFB1-overexpressing plants was positively correlated to HSFB1 expression level. The activity of the VdHSFB1 promoter is higher than that of VvHSFB1 under both normal and high temperatures. Promoter analysis showed that more TATA-box and AT~TATA-box cis-elements are present in the VdHSFB1 promoter than the VvHSFB1 promoter. The promoter sequence variations between VdHSFB1 and VvHSFB1 likely determine the HSFB1 expression levels that influence heat tolerance of the two grape germplasms with contrasting thermotolerance. Collectively, we validated the role of HSFB1 in heat tolerance, and the knowledge gained will advance our ability to breed heat-tolerant grape cultivars.