ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4 Promote ABA-Mediated Chlorophyll Degradation and Leaf Senescence by Transcriptional Activation of Chlorophyll Catabolic Genes and Senescence-Associated Genes in Arabidopsis

• Published in: Molecular plant Vol. 9; no. 9; pp. 1272 - 1285
• Main Authors: Gao, Shan, Gao, Jiong, Zhu, Xiaoyu, Song, Yi, Li, Zhongpeng, Ren, Guodong, Zhou, Xin, Kuai, Benke
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Inc 06.09.2016
• Subjects: ABF; abscisic acid; Abscisic Acid - metabolism; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - metabolism; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Arabidopsis thaliana; Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors - genetics; Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors - metabolism; Chlorophyll - metabolism; chlorophyll degradation; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - genetics; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - physiology; leaf senescence; Plant Leaves - metabolism; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; transcription factor; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcriptional Activation - genetics; Transcriptional Activation - physiology; Arabidopsis thaliana; transcription factor; abscisic acid; ABF; chlorophyll degradation; leaf senescence
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molp.2016.06.006
• ISSN: 1674-2052

Chlorophyll (Chl) degradation is an integral process of leaf senescence, and NYE1/SGR1 has been demonstrated as a key regulator of Chl catabolism in diverse plant species. In this study, using yeast one-hybrid screening, we identified three abscisic acid (ABA)-responsive element (ABRE)-binding transcription factors, ABF2 (AREB1), ABF3, and ABF4 (AREB2), as the putative binding proteins of the NYE1 promoter. Through the transactivation analysis, electrophoretic mobility shift assay, and chromatin immunoprecipitation, we demonstrated that ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4 directly bound to and activated the NYE1 promoter in vitro and in vivo. ABA is a positive regulator of leaf senescence, and exogenously applied ABA can accelerate Chl degradation. The triple mutant of the ABFs, abf2abf3abf4, as well as two ABA-insensitive mutants, abi1-1 and snrk2.2/2.3/2.6, exhibited stay-green phenotypes after ABA treatment, along with decreased induction of NYE1 and NYE2 expression. In contrast, overexpression of ABF4 accelerated Chl degradation upon ABA treatment. Interestingly, ABF2/3/4 could also activate the expression of two Chl catabolic enzyme genes, PAO and NYC1, by directly binding to their promoters. In addition, abf2abf3abf4 exhibited a functional stay-green phenotype, and senescence-associated genes (SAGs), such as SAG29 (SWEET15), might be directly regulated by the ABFs. Taken together, our results suggest that ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4 likely act as key regulators in mediating ABA-triggered Chl degradation and leaf senescence in general in Arabidopsis. ABA is an important regulator of leaf senescence, but the ABA-dependent molecular regulation of chlorophyll breakdown and leaf senescence is poorly understood. Our study demonstrated that ABF2, ABF3, and ABF4, the master regulators of ABA signaling, mediate ABA-triggered chlorophyll degradation and leaf senescence by transcriptional activation of major chlorophyll catabolic genes and senescence-associated genes in Arabidopsis.