A Wall-Associated Kinase Gene CaWAKL20 From Pepper Negatively Modulates Plant Thermotolerance by Reducing the Expression of ABA-Responsive Genes
Heat stress has become a major threat to crop production due to global warming; however, the mechanisms underlying plant high-temperature sensing are not well known. In plants, the membrane-anchored receptor-like kinases (RLKs) relay environmental signals into the cytoplasm. In a previous study, we...
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Published in | Frontiers in plant science Vol. 10; p. 591 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Switzerland
Frontiers Media S.A
14.05.2019
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Heat stress has become a major threat to crop production due to global warming; however, the mechanisms underlying plant high-temperature sensing are not well known. In plants, the membrane-anchored receptor-like kinases (RLKs) relay environmental signals into the cytoplasm. In a previous study, we isolated a wall-associated RLK-like (WAKL) gene
from pepper (
L.). Here, the amino acid sequence of CaWAKL20 was characterized and found to consist of conserved domains of WAK/WAKL family, including an extracellular region containing a GUB-WAK binding domain and a degenerated EGF2-like domain; a transmembrane region; and an intercellular region with an STKc catalytic domain. Moreover,
transcription was inhibited by heat stress, whereas it was induced by both ABA and H
O
treatments. Silencing of
enhanced pepper thermotolerance, while overexpression decreased Arabidopsis thermotolerance. Additionally, Arabidopsis lines overexpressing
showed less sensitivity to ABA during seed germination and root growth. Finally, the survival rate of Arabidopsis seedlings under heat stress treatment was enhanced by ABA pre-treatment, while it was compromised by the overexpression of
. Furthermore, the heat-induced expression of several ABA-responsive genes and some key regulator genes for thermotolerance was decreased in Arabidopsis
overexpression lines. These results suggest that
negatively modulates plant thermotolerance by reducing the expression of ABA-responsive genes, laying a foundation for further investigation into the functional mechanisms of WAKs/WAKLs in plants undergoing environmental stresses. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Reviewed by: Yong Hwa Cheong, Sunchon National University, South Korea; Haitao Shi, Hainan University, China Edited by: Sang Yeol Lee, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea Present address: Yufei Zhai, College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, China This article was submitted to Plant Abiotic Stress, a section of the journal Frontiers in Plant Science |
ISSN: | 1664-462X 1664-462X |
DOI: | 10.3389/fpls.2019.00591 |