Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Laboratory of Plantation Science and Technology, Institute of Plantation Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: sitiakmar@gmail.com
  • 3 Department of Agriculture Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Crop Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Plant Physiol Biochem, 2017 Mar;112:129-151.
PMID: 28068641 DOI: 10.1016/j.plaphy.2016.12.025

Abstract

Dehydration-responsive element binding (DREB) transcription factor plays an important role in controlling the expression of abiotic stress responsive genes. An intronless oil palm EgDREB1 was isolated and confirmed to be a nuclear localized protein. Electrophoretic mobility shift and yeast one-hybrid assays validated its ability to interact with DRE/CRT motif. Its close evolutionary relation to the dicot NtDREB2 suggests a universal regulatory role. In order to determine its involvement in abiotic stress response, functional characterization was performed in oil palm seedlings subjected to different levels of drought severity and in EgDREB1 transgenic tomato seedlings treated by abiotic stresses. Its expression in roots and leaves was compared with several antioxidant genes using quantitative real-time PCR. Early accumulation of EgDREB1 in oil palm roots under mild drought suggests possible involvement in the initiation of signaling communication from root to shoot. Ectopic expression of EgDREB1 in T1 transgenic tomato seedlings enhanced expression of DRE/CRT and non-DRE/CRT containing genes, including tomato peroxidase (LePOD), ascorbate peroxidase (LeAPX), catalase (LeCAT), superoxide dismutase (LeSOD), glutathione reductase (LeGR), glutathione peroxidase (LeGP), heat shock protein 70 (LeHSP70), late embryogenesis abundant (LeLEA), metallothionine type 2 (LeMET2), delta 1-pyrroline-5- carboxylate synthetase (LePCS), ABA-aldehyde oxidase (LeAAO) and 9-cis- Epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase (LeECD) under PEG treatment and cold stress (4 °C). Altogether, these findings suggest that EgDREB1 is a functional regulator in enhancing tolerance to drought and cold stress.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.