HEAT SHOCK FACTOR A8a Modulates Flavonoid Synthesis and Drought Tolerance

Overview

Journal Plant Physiol

Specialty Physiology

Date 2020 Sep 22

PMID 32958560

Citations 54

Authors

Nan Wang

Wenjun Liu

Lei Yu

Zhangwen Guo

Zijing Chen

Shenghui Jiang

Haifeng Xu

Hongcheng Fang

Yicheng Wang

Zongying Zhang

Xuesen Chen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Drought is an important environmental factor affecting the growth and production of agricultural crops and fruits worldwide, including apple (). Heat shock factors (HSFs) have well-documented functions in stress responses, but their roles in flavonoid synthesis and the flavonoid-mediated drought response mechanism remain elusive. In this study, we demonstrated that a drought-responsive HSF, designated MdHSFA8a, promotes the accumulation of flavonoids, scavenging of reactive oxygen species, and plant survival under drought conditions. A chaperone, HEAT SHOCK PROTEIN90 (HSP90), interacted with MdHSFA8a to inhibit its binding activity and transcriptional activation. However, under drought stress, the MdHSP90-MdHSFA8a complex dissociated and the released MdHSFA8a further interacted with the APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE FACTOR family transcription factor RELATED TO AP2.12 to activate downstream gene activity. In addition, we demonstrated that MdHSFA8a participates in abscisic acid-induced stomatal closure and promotes the expression of abscisic acid signaling-related genes. Collectively, these findings provide insight into the mechanism by which stress-inducible MdHSFA8a modulates flavonoid synthesis to regulate drought tolerance.

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