title: The CCCH-type zinc finger proteins AtSZF1 and AtSZF2 regulate salt stress responses in Arabidopsis.
abstract: The molecular mechanism governing the response of plants to salinity stress, one of the most significant limiting factors for agriculture worldwide, has just started to be revealed. Here, we report AtSZF1 and AtSZF2, two closely related CCCH-type zinc finger proteins, involved in salt stress responses in Arabidopsis. The expression of AtSZF1 and AtSZF2 is quickly and transiently induced by NaCl treatment. Mutants disrupted in the expression of AtSZF1 or AtSZF2 exhibit increased expression of a group of salt stress-responsive genes in response to high salt. Significantly, the atszf1-1/atszf2-1 double mutant displays more sensitive responses to salt stress than the atszf1-1 or atszf2-1 single mutants and wild-type plants. On the other hand, transgenic plants overexpressing AtSZF1 show reduced induction of salt stress-responsive genes and are more tolerant to salt stress. We also showed that AtSZF1 is localized in the nucleus. Taken together, these results demonstrated that AtSZF1 and AtSZF2 negatively regulate the expression of salt-responsive genes and play important roles in modulating the tolerance of Arabidopsis plants to salt stress.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics and Center for Plant Gene Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, PR China.
authors.forename: Jiaqiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Hongling
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Yingxiu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Xiaoyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Chuanyou
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000187:drug effects; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010802:Phylogeny; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013997:Time Factors; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C525636:SZF1 protein, Arabidopsis; C515560:ZFAR1 protein, Arabidopsis; D012965:Sodium Chloride