Characterization of a gene family encoding abscisic acid- and environmental stress-inducible proteins of alfalfa

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry 1992-08, Vol.267 (22), p.15367-15374
• Main Authors: MA LUO, JIN-HAO LIU, MOHAPATRA, S, HILL, R. D, MOHAPATRA, S. S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abscisic Acid - pharmacology; Amino Acid Sequence; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Northern; Cloning, Molecular; DNA - genetics; DNA - isolation & purification; Environment; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes. Genome; Heat-Shock Proteins - genetics; Kinetics; Medicago sativa; Medicago sativa - drug effects; Medicago sativa - genetics; Medicago sativa - growth & development; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family - drug effects; Poly A - genetics; Poly A - isolation & purification; RNA - genetics; RNA - isolation & purification; RNA, Messenger; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; Transcription, Genetic - drug effects
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0021-9258(19)49543-4

The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) has been proposed as a common mediator controlling adaptive plant responses to a variety of environmental stresses, including water deficit, salinity, wounding, and low temperature. We have recently isolated three cDNAs, pUM90-1, pUM90-2, and pUM91-4, from a cDNA library of ABA-induced mRNAs of alfalfa. These cDNA clones exhibit a very high degree of sequence homology with one another and sequence similarities with certain regions of several stress- and ABA-inducible genes. The polypeptides encoded by these cDNAs are very rich in glycine (35-40%), histidine (7-15%), asparagine (8-14%), and tyrosine (5-10%) and have no tryptophan and proline. All of the encoded polypeptides contain characteristic tandem repeats comprising glycine residues intercepted with histidine and/or tyrosine. The RNAs corresponding to a representative cDNA, pUM90-1, were induced after treatment of seedlings with low temperature, drought, salt, and wounding stress, but not by heat; the induction was maximal under low temperature treatment. ABA and ABA analog rapidly induced the expression of these genes, whereas gibberellic acid treatment exhibited no induction whatsoever. These genes appear to be specifically induced in the shoot tissues. Analysis of ABA induction of genes corresponding to pUM90-1 in alfalfa seedlings of different age groups demonstrated that these genes were inducible in seedlings/plants of all age groups examined. Taken together these results suggest that these cDNA clones encode a group of proteins that are inducible by ABA and multiple environmental stresses and correspond to a new family of genes of plants, designated as ABA- and environmental stress-inducible genes.