title: A seed preferential heat shock transcription factor from wheat provides abiotic stress tolerance and yield enhancement in transgenic Arabidopsis under heat stress environment.
abstract: Reduction in crop yield and quality due to various abiotic stresses is a worldwide phenomenon. In the present investigation, a heat shock factor (HSF) gene expressing preferentially in developing seed tissues of wheat grown under high temperatures was cloned. This newly identified heat shock factor possesses the characteristic domains of class A type plant HSFs and shows high similarity to rice OsHsfA2d, hence named as TaHsfA2d. The transcription factor activity of TaHsfA2d was confirmed through transactivation assay in yeast. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing TaHsfA2d not only possess higher tolerance towards high temperature but also showed considerable tolerance to salinity and drought stresses, they also showed higher yield and biomass accumulation under constant heat stress conditions. Analysis of putative target genes of AtHSFA2 through quantitative RT-PCR showed higher and constitutive expression of several abiotic stress responsive genes in transgenic Arabidopsis plants over-expressing TaHsfA2d. Under stress conditions, TaHsfA2d can also functionally complement the T-DNA insertion mutants of AtHsfA2, although partially. These observations suggest that TaHsfA2d may be useful in molecular breeding of crop plants, especially wheat, to improve yield under abiotic stress conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Molecular Biology, University of Delhi South Campus, New Delhi, India.
authors.forename: Harsh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.forename: Neetika
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Khurana
authors.forename: Preeti
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Jitendra P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Khurana
authors.forename: Paramjit
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Khurana
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D055864:Droughts; D000076249:Heat Shock Transcription Factors; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000235:genetics*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D012492:Salts / Q000494:pharmacology; D012639:Seeds / Q000235:genetics*; D013696:Temperature; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014908:Triticum / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C000620134:HSFA2 protein, Arabidopsis; D000076249:Heat Shock Transcription Factors; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D012492:Salts; D014157:Transcription Factors