Soybean GmPHD-Type Transcription Regulators Improve Stress Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis Plants

• Published in: PloS one 2009-09, Vol.4 (9), p.e7209-e7209
• Main Authors: Wei, Wei, Huang, Jian, Hao, Yu-Jun, Zou, Hong-Feng, Wang, Hui-Wen, Zhao, Jing-Yun, Liu, Xue-Yi, Zhang, Wan-Ke, Ma, Biao, Zhang, Jin-Song, Chen, Shou-Yi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Abscisic acid; Amino Acid Sequence; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis - genetics; Arabidopsis thaliana; Cloning; Cloning, Molecular; cold tolerance; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Developmental biology; Dimerization; DNA; Drought; drought tolerance; Enzymes; Fingers & toes; Gene expression; Gene Expression Profiling; gene expression regulation; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene regulation; gene transfer; Genes; Genetic engineering; Genomics; Glycine max; Glycine max - genetics; GmPHD gene; Kinases; Laboratories; Metabolism; Molecular Sequence Data; Oryza; Oxidative stress; Plant Biology/Agricultural Biotechnology; Plant Biology/Plant Biochemistry and Physiology; Plant Biology/Plant-Environment Interactions; Plants, Genetically Modified; Protein Binding; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Proteins; Protoplasts - metabolism; salt stress; Salt tolerance; Salts; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Signal transduction; Soybean Proteins - genetics; Soybeans; Stress response; stress tolerance; Stress, Physiological; Transcription; Transcription (Genetics); Transcription factors; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transgenic plants; Trends; Wei-Wei (1957- ); Yeast
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007209

Background: Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is one of the most important crops for oil and protein resource. Improvement of stress tolerance will be beneficial for soybean seed production. Principal Findings: Six GmPHD genes encoding Alfin1-type PHD finger protein were identified and their expressions differentially responded to drought, salt, cold and ABA treatments. The six GmPHDs were nuclear proteins and showed ability to bind the cis-element “GTGGAG”. The N-terminal domain of GmPHD played a major role in DNA binding. Using a protoplast assay system, we find that GmPHD1 to GmPHD5 had transcriptional suppression activity whereas GmPHD6 did not have. In yeast assay, the GmPHD6 can form homodimer and heterodimer with the other GmPHDs except GmPHD2. The N-terminal plus the variable regions but not the PHD-finger is required for the dimerization. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing the GmPHD2 showed salt tolerance when compared with the wild type plants. This tolerance was likely achieved by diminishing the oxidative stress through regulation of downstream genes. Significance: These results provide important clues for soybean stress tolerance through manipulation of PHD-type transcription regulator.