Interaction between two cis‐acting elements, ABRE and DRE, in ABA‐dependent expression of Arabidopsis rd29A gene in response to dehydration and high‐salinity stresses

• Published in: The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 137 - 148
• Main Authors: Narusaka, Yoshihiro, Nakashima, Kazuo, Shinwari, Zabta K., Sakuma, Yoh, Furihata, Takashi, Abe, Hiroshi, Narusaka, Mari, Shinozaki, Kazuo, Yamaguchi‐Shinozaki, Kazuko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01.04.2003; Blackwell Science
• Subjects: ABRE; Abscisic Acid - pharmacology; Arabidopsis - drug effects; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; cis‐acting element; coupling element; Dehydration - genetics; DRE; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant - drug effects; Genes, Reporter - genetics; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Mutation - genetics; Plant physiology and development; Plants, Genetically Modified; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Response Elements - genetics; Sodium Chloride - pharmacology; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcriptional Activation - drug effects; Water and solutes. Absorption, translocation and permeability; coupling element; Induction; ABRE; Dehydration; Gene expression; Response element; Stress; Salinity; Arabidopsis thaliana; Gene; Cruciferae; Dicotyledones; DRE; Angiospermae; Abscisic acid; Regulatory sequence; Spermatophyta; Models; Experimental plant; cis-acting element
• ISSN: 0960-7412; 1365-313X
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-313X.2003.01708.x

Summary Many abiotic stress‐inducible genes contain two cis‐acting elements, namely a dehydration‐responsive element (DRE; TACCGACAT) and an ABA‐responsive element (ABRE; ACGTGG/TC), in their promoter regions. We precisely analyzed the 120 bp promoter region (−174 to −55) of the Arabidopsis rd29A gene whose expression is induced by dehydration, high‐salinity, low‐temperature, and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments and whose 120 bp promoter region contains the DRE, DRE/CRT‐core motif (A/GCCGAC), and ABRE sequences. Deletion and base substitution analyses of this region showed that the DRE‐core motif functions as DRE and that the DRE/DRE‐core motif could be a coupling element of ABRE. Gel mobility shift assays revealed that DRE‐binding proteins (DREB1s/CBFs and DREB2s) bind to both DRE and the DRE‐core motif and that ABRE‐binding proteins (AREBs/ABFs) bind to ABRE in the 120 bp promoter region. In addition, transactivation experiments using Arabidopsis leaf protoplasts showed that DREBs and AREBs cumulatively transactivate the expression of a GUS reporter gene fused to the 120 bp promoter region of rd29A. These results indicate that DRE and ABRE are interdependent in the ABA‐responsive expression of the rd29A gene in response to ABA in Arabidopsis.