title: The NAC family transcription factor OsNAP confers abiotic stress response through the ABA pathway.
abstract: Plants respond to environmental stresses by altering gene expression, and several genes have been found to mediate stress-induced expression, but many additional factors are yet to be identified. OsNAP is a member of the NAC transcription factor family; it is localized in the nucleus, and shows transcriptional activator activity in yeast. Analysis of the OsNAP transcript levels in rice showed that this gene was significantly induced by ABA and abiotic stresses, including high salinity, drought and low temperature. Rice plants overexpressing OsNAP did not show growth retardation, but showed a significantly reduced rate of water loss, enhanced tolerance to high salinity, drought and low temperature at the vegetative stage, and improved yield under drought stress at the flowering stage. Microarray analysis of transgenic plants overexpressing OsNAP revealed that many stress-related genes were up-regulated, including OsPP2C06/OsABI2, OsPP2C09, OsPP2C68 and OsSalT, and some genes coding for stress-related transcription factors (OsDREB1A, OsMYB2, OsAP37 and OsAP59). Our data suggest that OsNAP functions as a transcriptional activator that plays a role in mediating abiotic stress responses in rice.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Institute of Genetics, Institute of Plant Biology, School of Life Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yaofeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Liqiong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Songchong
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ming
mesh_terms: D003080:Cold Temperature; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D054712:Salinity; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012965:Sodium Chloride
keywords: ABA; Abiotic stress; NAC transcription factor; Rice