Phosphorylation of the CAMTA3 Transcription Factor Triggers Its Destabilization and Nuclear Export

Abstract

The Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) calmodulin-binding transcription activator3 (CAMTA3) is a repressor of immunity-related genes but an activator of cold-induced or general stress-responsive genes in plants. Post-transcriptional or posttranslational mechanisms have been proposed to control CAMTA3 functions in different stress responses. Here, we show that treatment with the bacterial flg22 elicitor induces CAMTA3 phosphorylation, which is accompanied by its destabilization and nuclear export. Two flg22-responsive mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), MPK3 and MPK6, directly phosphorylate CAMTA3, with the phospho-sites contributing to CAMTA3 degradation and suppression of downstream target gene expression. However, the flg22-induced nuclear export and phospho-mobility shift can still be observed for the CAMTA3 phospho-null variant of the MAPK-modified sites, suggesting additional flg22-responsive kinases might be involved. Taken together, we propose that flg22-induced CAMTA3 depletion facilitates de-repression of downstream defense target genes, which involves phosphorylation, increased protein turnover, and nucleo-cytoplasmic trafficking.