title: GsERF6, an ethylene-responsive factor from Glycine soja, mediates the regulation of plant bicarbonate tolerance in Arabidopsis.
abstract: This is an original study focus on ERF gene response to alkaline stress. GsERF6 functions as transcription factor and significantly enhanced plant tolerance to bicarbonate (HCO 3 (-) ) in transgenic Arabidopsis . Alkaline stress is one of the most harmful, but little studied environmental factors, which negatively affects plant growth, development and yield. The cause of alkaline stress is mainly due to the damaging consequence of high concentration of the bicarbonate ion, high-pH, and osmotic shock to plants. The AP2/ERF family genes encode plant-specific transcription factors involved in diverse environmental stresses. However, little is known about their physiological functions, especially in alkaline stress responses. In this study, we functionally characterized a novel ERF subfamily gene, GsERF6 from alkaline-tolerant wild soybean (Glycine soja). In wild soybean, GsERF6 was rapidly induced by NaHCO3 treatment, and its overexpression in Arabidopsis enhanced transgenic plant tolerance to NaHCO3 challenge. Interestingly, GsERF6 transgenic lines also displayed increased tolerance to KHCO3 treatment, but not to high pH stress, implicating that GsERF6 may participate specifically in bicarbonate stress responses. We also found that GsERF6 overexpression up-regulated the transcription levels of bicarbonate-stress-inducible genes such as NADP-ME, H (+)-Ppase and H (+)-ATPase, as well as downstream stress-tolerant genes such as RD29A, COR47 and KINI. GsERF6 overexpression and NaHCO3 stress also altered the expression patterns of plant hormone synthesis and hormone-responsive genes. Conjointly, our results suggested that GsERF6 is a positive regulator of plant alkaline stress by increasing bicarbonate ionic resistance specifically, providing a new insight into the regulation of gene expression under alkaline conditions.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Ailin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Xiangbo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Sunting
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Agronomy College, Heilongjiang Bayi Agricultural University, Daqing, 163319, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Huizi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duanmu
authors.affiliation: College of Life Science, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, 266109, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Jialei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China.
authors.forename: Zaib Un
authors.initials: ZU
authors.lastname: Nisa
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China. ymzhu2001@neau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yanming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Agricultural Biological Functional Genes, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, 150030, China. Xiaodong.ding@neau.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D001639:Bicarbonates / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013025:Glycine max / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation
chemical_list: D001639:Bicarbonates; D010937:Plant Growth Regulators; D010940:Plant Proteins
keywords: Abscisic acid; Alkali stress; ERF transcription factor; Ethylene; Functional analysis; Wild soybean