The key regulator LcERF056 enhances salt tolerance by modulating reactive oxygen species-related genes in Lotus corniculatus

• Published in: BMC plant biology Vol. 21; no. 1; p. 605
• Main Authors: Wang, Dan, Sun, Zhanmin, Hu, Xinxu, Xiong, Junbo, Hu, Lizhen, Xu, Yuandong, Tang, Yixiong, Wu, Yanmin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 29.12.2021; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Amino acids; Analysis; Apoptosis; Arabidopsis thaliana; Cell Nucleus - metabolism; Chromatin; Control; Defense; Environmental aspects; Environmental effects; ERF transcription factor; Fenugreek; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic engineering; Growth; Identification and classification; Immunoprecipitation; Lipids; Lotus - genetics; Lotus - physiology; Lotus corniculatus; Metabolic pathways; Methods; Oxygen - metabolism; Peroxidase; Plant growth; Plant Proteins - physiology; Polymerase chain reaction; Proteins; Reactive oxygen species; Regulation mechanism; RNA-mediated interference; Salinity tolerance; Salt; Salt stress; Salt stress (Botany); Salt tolerance; Salt Tolerance - genetics; Salt Tolerance - physiology; Seeds; Transcription Factors - physiology; Transcriptomes; Yeasts; China; Salt stress; ERF transcription factor; Lotus corniculatus; Regulation mechanism
• ISSN: 1471-2229; 1471-2229
• DOI: 10.1186/s12870-021-03336-4

The APETALA2/ethylene response factor (AP2/ERF) family are important regulatory factors involved in plants' response to environmental stimuli. However, their roles in salt tolerance in Lotus corniculatus remain unclear. Here, the key salt-responsive transcription factor LcERF056 was cloned and characterised. LcERF056 belonging to the B3-1 (IX) subfamily of ERFs was considerably upregulated by salt treatment. LcERF056-fused GFP was exclusively localised to nuclei. Furthermore, LcERF056- overexpression (OE) transgenic Arabidopsis and L. corniculatus lines exhibited significantly high tolerance to salt treatment compared with wild-type (WT) or RNA interference expression (RNAi) transgenic lines at the phenotypic and physiological levels. Transcriptome analysis of OE, RNAi, and WT lines showed that LcERF056 regulated the downstream genes involved in several metabolic pathways. Chromatin immunoprecipitation-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (ChIP-qPCR) and yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assay demonstrated that LcERF056 could bind to cis-element GCC box or DRE of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related genes such as lipid-transfer protein, peroxidase and ribosomal protein. Our results suggested that the key regulator LcERF056 plays important roles in salt tolerance in L. corniculatus by modulating ROS-related genes. Therefore, it may be a useful target for engineering salt-tolerant L. corniculatus or other crops.