dentification and Characterization of the Populus AREB/ABF Subfamily

• Published in: 植物学报：英文版 2013 (2), p.177-186
• Main Author: Lexiang Ji Jia Wang Meixia Ye Ying Li Bin Guo Zhong Chen Hao Li Xinmin An
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: bZIP蛋白; 亚科; 信号转导通路; 外源ABA; 胡杨; 表征; 转录因子; 鉴定
• ISSN: 1672-9072; 1744-7909

Abscisic acid （ABA） is a major plant hormone that plays an important role in responses to abiotic stresses. The ABA-responsive element binding protein/ABRE-binding factor （AREB/ABF） gene subfamily contains crucial transcription factors in the ABA-mediated signaling pathway. In this study, a total of 14 putative AREB/ABF members were identified in the Populus trichocarpa Torr. ＆ Gray. genome using five AREB/ABF amino acid sequences from Arabidopsis thaliana L. as probes. The 14 putative Populus subfamily members showed high protein similarities, especially in the basic leucine zipper （bZIP） domain region. A neighbor-joining analysis combined with gene structure data revealed homology among the 14 genes. The expression patterns of the Populus AREB/ABF subfamily suggested that the most abundant transcripts of 11 genes occurred in leaf tissues, while two genes were most transcribed in root tissues. Significantly, eight Populus AREB/ABF gene members were upregulated after treatment with 100 t~M exogenous ABA, while the other six members were downregulated. We identified the expression profiles of the subfamily members in Populus tissues and elucidated different response patterns of Populus AREB/ABF members to ABA stress. This study provided insight into the roles of Populus AREB/ABF homologues in plant response to abiotic stresses.