GmABR1 encoding an ERF transcription factor enhances the tolerance to aluminum stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

Hongjie Wang; Cheng Li; Lidan Wang; Hongying Zhong; Xin Xu; Yanbo Cheng; Hai Nian; Wenhua Liu; Pei Chen; Aixia Zhang; Qibin Ma

doi:10.3389/fpls.2023.1125245

GmABR1 encoding an ERF transcription factor enhances the tolerance to aluminum stress in Arabidopsis thaliana

Front Plant Sci. 2023 Mar 23:14:1125245. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2023.1125245. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Hongjie Wang^{1

2

3

4

5}, Cheng Li^{1

2

3

4

5}, Lidan Wang^{1

2

3

4

5}, Hongying Zhong^{1

2

3

4

5}, Xin Xu^{1

2

3

4

5}, Yanbo Cheng^{1

2

3

4

5}, Hai Nian^{1

2

3

4

5}, Wenhua Liu⁶, Pei Chen⁶, Aixia Zhang⁶, Qibin Ma^{1

2

3

4

5}

Affiliations

¹ The State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
² The Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Plant Molecular Breeding, College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
³ The Guangdong Subcenter of the National Center for Soybean Improvement, College of Agriculture, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
⁴ The Guangdong Provincial Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agricultural Science and Technology, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
⁵ Zengcheng Teaching and Research Bases, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.
⁶ Agro-biological Gene Research Center, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China.

Abstract

The ethylene response factor (ERF) transcription factors, which is one of the largest transcription factor families in plants, are involved in biological and abiotic stress response and play an important role in plant growth and development. In this study, the GmABR1 gene from the soybean inbred line Zhonghuang24 (ZH24)×Huaxia 3 (HX3) was investigated its aluminum (Al) tolerance. GmABR1 protein has a conserved domain AP2, which is located in the nucleus and has transcriptional activation ability. The results of real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) showed that the GmABR1 gene presented a constitutive expression pattern rich in the root tip, stem and leaf tissues of HX3. After Al stress, the GmABR1 transcript was significantly increased in the roots. The transcripts of GmABR1 in the roots of HX3 treated with 50 µM AlCl₃ was 51 times than that of the control. The GmABR1 was spatiotemporally specific with the highest expression levels when Al concentration was 50 µM, which was about 36 times than that of the control. The results of hematoxylin staining showed that the root tips of GmABR1-overexpression lines were stained the lightest, followed by the control, and the root tips of GmABR1 RNAi lines were stained the darkest. The concentrations of Al³⁺ in root tips were 207.40 µg/g, 147.74 µg/g and 330.65 µg/g in wild type (WT), overexpressed lines and RNAi lines, respectively. When AlCl₃ (pH4.5) concentration was 100 µM, all the roots of Arabidopsis were significantly inhibited. The taproot elongation of WT, GmABR1 transgenic lines was 69.6%, 85.6%, respectively. When treated with Al, the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in leaves of WT increased to 3.03 µg/g, while that of transgenic Arabidopsis increased from 1.66-2.21 µg/g, which was lower than that of WT. Under the Al stress, the Al stress responsive genes such as AtALMT1 and AtMATE, and the genes related to ABA pathway such as AtABI1, AtRD22 and AtRD29A were up-regulated. The results indicated that GmABR1 may jointly regulate plant resistance to Al stress through genes related to Al stress response and ABA response pathways.

Keywords: Al stress; GmABR1; soybean; transcription factor; transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the grants from the Project of China-Uruguay Joint Laboratory Cooperation (SQ2018YFE010044), the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Strategy Project (2020B1212060062), the Projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31771816, 31971965 and 31371642), the New Varieties Cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms (2016ZX08004002-007), the China Agricultural Research System (CARS-04-PS11), the Project of Agricultural Science and Technology Development and Resource and Environmental Protection Management from the Special Rural Revitalization Funds of Guangdong Province (2022KJ153-03), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs agricultural products quality and safety supervision special (4100-C17106, 21301091702101), the Projects of Key Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong Province (2020B020220008), the project of the Guangdong Provincial Laboratory of Lingnan Modern Agricultural Science and Technology (NZ2021012).