title: Increased STM expression is associated with drought tolerance in Arabidopsis.
abstract: In higher plants, shoot apical meristem (SAM) maintains cell division activity in order to give rise to aerial plant organs. Several lines of evidence have suggested that plants ensure stem cell proliferation activity in response to various external stimuli, thereby contributing to plant adaptation and fitness. Here, we report that the abscisic acid (ABA)-inducible R2R3-type MYB96 transcription factor regulates transcript accumulation of SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM) possibly to contribute to plant adaptation to environmental stress. STM was up-regulated in MYB96-overexpressing activation-tagging myb96-ox plants, but down-regulated in MYB96-deficient myb96-1 mutant plants, even in the presence of ABA. Notably, the MYB96 transcription factor bound directly to the STM promoter. In addition, consistent with the role of MYB96 in drought tolerance, transgenic plants overexpressing STM (35S:STM-MYC) were more tolerant to drought stress. These observations suggest that the MYB96-STM module contributes to enhancing plant tolerance to drought stress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hong Gil
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yee-Ram
authors.initials: YR
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: pjseo1@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Pil Joon
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Seo
mesh_terms: D000040:Abscisic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D055864:Droughts; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D018519:Meristem / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000187:drug effects; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C097496:STM protein, Arabidopsis; D000040:Abscisic Acid
keywords: Arabidopsis; Differentiation; Drought tolerance; MYB96; STM; Shoot apical meristem