Overexpression of Arachis hypogaea AREB1 gene enhances drought tolerance by modulating ROS scavenging and maintaining endogenous ABA content

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 14; no. 6; pp. 12827 - 12842
• Main Authors: Li, Xiao-Yun, Liu, Xu, Yao, Yao, Li, Yi-Hao, Liu, Shuai, He, Chao-Yong, Li, Jian-Mei, Lin, Ying-Ying, Li, Ling
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19.06.2013; Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
• Subjects: Abscisic acid; Abscisic Acid - metabolism; Adaptation, Physiological - genetics; AhAREB1; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - physiology; Arachis - genetics; Arachis hypogaea; Drought; drought stress; Droughts; Free Radical Scavengers - metabolism; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes, Plant; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Plant Proteins - genetics; Plant Proteins - metabolism; Plants, Genetically Modified; Proteins; Reactive Oxygen Species - metabolism; Salinity; transcription factor; Transcription factors; Transgenic plants; China
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms140612827

AhAREB1 (Arachis hypogaea Abscisic-acid Response Element Binding Protein 1) is a member of the basic domain leucine zipper (bZIP)-type transcription factor in peanut. Previously, we found that expression of AhAREB1 was specifically induced by abscisic acid (ABA), dehydration and drought. To understand the drought defense mechanism regulated by AhAREB1, transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing AhAREB1 was conducted in wild-type (WT), and a complementation experiment was employed to ABA non-sensitivity mutant abi5 (abscisic acid-insensitive 5). Constitutive expression of AhAREB1 confers water stress tolerance and is highly sensitive to exogenous ABA. Microarray and further real-time PCR analysis revealed that drought stress, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging, ABA synthesis/metabolism-related genes and others were regulated in transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing AhAREB1. Accordingly, low level of ROS, but higher ABA content was detected in the transgenic Arabidopsis plants' overexpression of AhAREB1. Taken together, it was concluded that AhAREB1 modulates ROS accumulation and endogenous ABA level to improve drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis.