The EDLL motif: a potent plant transcriptional activation domain from AP2/ERF transcription factors

• Published in: The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology Vol. 70; no. 5; pp. 855 - 865
• Main Authors: Tiwari, Shiv B., Belachew, Alemu, Ma, Siu Fong, Young, Melinda, Ade, Jules, Shen, Yu, Marion, Colleen M., Holtan, Hans E., Bailey, Adina, Stone, Jeffrey K., Edwards, Leslie, Wallace, Andreah D., Canales, Roger D., Adam, Luc, Ratcliffe, Oliver J., Repetti, Peter P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2012; Blackwell
• Subjects: Amino Acid Motifs; Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis - metabolism; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Arabidopsis thaliana; Biological and medical sciences; Biology and morphogenesis of the reproductive apparatus. Photoperiodism, vernalisation; Cloning, Molecular; CONSTANS; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Escherichia coli - genetics; Escherichia coli - metabolism; flowering; Flowers - metabolism; Flowers - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes, Plant; Genes, Reporter; Genetics; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Multiprotein Complexes - genetics; Multiprotein Complexes - metabolism; NF‐Y; Plant biology; Plant physiology and development; Plants, Genetically Modified - genetics; Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism; Plants, Genetically Modified - physiology; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Proteins; Protoplasts - cytology; Protoplasts - metabolism; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - metabolism; Repressor Proteins - genetics; Repressor Proteins - metabolism; Time Factors; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transcription. Transcription factor. Splicing. Rna processing; Transcriptional Activation; transcriptional regulation; Transfection; Vegetative and sexual reproduction, floral biology, fructification; NF-Y; Vegetals; Transcription; transcriptional regulation; Activation; Gene expression; CONSTANS; Arabidopsis thaliana; Plant; Regulation(control); Cruciferae; Dicotyledones; Angiospermae; Flowering; Spermatophyta; Transcription factor
• ISSN: 0960-7412; 1365-313X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2012.04935.x

Summary In plants, the ERF/EREBP family of transcriptional regulators plays a key role in adaptation to various biotic and abiotic stresses. These proteins contain a conserved AP2 DNA‐binding domain and several uncharacterized motifs. Here, we describe a short motif, termed ‘EDLL’, that is present in AtERF98/TDR1 and other clade members from the same AP2 sub‐family. We show that the EDLL motif, which has a unique arrangement of acidic amino acids and hydrophobic leucines, functions as a strong activation domain. The motif is transferable to other proteins, and is active at both proximal and distal positions of target promoters. As such, the EDLL motif is able to partly overcome the repression conferred by the AtHB2 transcription factor, which contains an ERF‐associated amphiphilic repression (EAR) motif. We further examined the activation potential of EDLL by analysis of the regulation of flowering time by NF‐Y (nuclear factor Y) proteins. Genetic evidence indicates that NF‐Y protein complexes potentiate the action of CONSTANS in regulation of flowering in Arabidopsis; we show that the transcriptional activation function of CONSTANS can be substituted by direct fusion of the EDLL activation motif to NF‐YB subunits. The EDLL motif represents a potent plant activation domain that can be used as a tool to confer transcriptional activation potential to heterologous DNA‐binding proteins.