Dataset Information

The HD-ZIP II Transcription Factors Regulate Plant Architecture through the Auxin Pathway.

ABSTRACT: The homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-ZIP) family transcription factors play important roles in plant growth and development. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here we found that ATHB2, encoding a HD-ZIP transcription factor, is an early auxin responsive gene. Phenotypic analyses show that overexpression of ATHB2 impairs plant architecture, including reduced plant height and small leaves, and also reduces auxin response in leaves when grown in soil. Simultaneously, the seedlings with chemical induction of ATHB2 exhibit abnormal root gravitropism, a typical auxin-related phenotype. We further show that the auxin response pattern is altered in roots of the inducible ATHB2 seedlings. Consistently, the transcript levels of some auxin biosynthetic and transport genes are significantly decreased in these transgenic seedlings. Further, protein and promoter sequence analyses in common wheat showed that the HD-ZIP II subfamily transcription factors have highly conserved motifs and most of these encoding gene promoters contain the canonical auxin-responsive elements. Expression analyses confirm that some of these HD-ZIP II genes are indeed regulated by auxin in wheat. Together, our results suggest that the HD-ZIP II subfamily transcription factors regulate plant development possibly through the auxin pathway in plants.

SUBMITTER: He G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7246542 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The HD-ZIP II Transcription Factors Regulate Plant Architecture through the Auxin Pathway.

He Guanhua G Liu Pan P Zhao Huixian H Sun Jiaqiang J

International journal of molecular sciences 20200504 9

The homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-ZIP) family transcription factors play important roles in plant growth and development. However, the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Here we found that <i>ATHB2</i>, encoding a HD-ZIP transcription factor, is an early auxin responsive gene. Phenotypic analyses show that overexpression of <i>ATHB2</i> impairs plant architecture, including reduced plant height and small leaves, and also reduces auxin response in leaves when grown in soil. Simultaneo ...[more]

PMID: 32375344

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Project description:BackgroundPlant HD-Zip transcription factors are modular proteins in which a homeodomain is associated to a leucine zipper. Of the four subfamilies in which they are divided, the tested members from subfamily I bind in vitro the same pseudopalindromic sequence CAAT(A/T)ATTG and among them, several exhibit similar expression patterns. However, most experiments in which HD-Zip I proteins were over or ectopically expressed under the control of the constitutive promoter 35S CaMV resulted in transgenic plants with clearly different phenotypes. Aiming to elucidate the structural mechanisms underlying such observation and taking advantage of the increasing information in databases of sequences from diverse plant species, an in silico analysis was performed. In addition, some of the results were also experimentally supported.ResultsA phylogenetic tree of 178 HD-Zip I proteins together with the sequence conservation presented outside the HD-Zip domains allowed the distinction of six groups of proteins. A motif-discovery approach enabled the recognition of an activation domain in the carboxy-terminal regions (CTRs) and some putative regulatory mechanisms acting in the amino-terminal regions (NTRs) and CTRs involving sumoylation and phosphorylation. A yeast one-hybrid experiment demonstrated that the activation activity of ATHB1, a member of one of the groups, is located in its CTR. Chimerical constructs were performed combining the HD-Zip domain of one member with the CTR of another and transgenic plants were obtained with these constructs. The phenotype of the chimerical transgenic plants was similar to the observed in transgenic plants bearing the CTR of the donor protein, revealing the importance of this module inside the whole protein.ConclusionsThe bioinformatical results and the experiments conducted in yeast and transgenic plants strongly suggest that the previously poorly analyzed NTRs and CTRs of HD-Zip I proteins play an important role in their function, hence potentially constituting a major source of functional diversity among members of this subfamily.

Dataset Information

The HD-ZIP II Transcription Factors Regulate Plant Architecture through the Auxin Pathway.

Publications

The HD-ZIP II Transcription Factors Regulate Plant Architecture through the Auxin Pathway.

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