Tomato NAC transcription factor SlSRN1 positively regulates defense response against biotic stress but negatively regulates abiotic stress response.

Abstract

Biotic and abiotic stresses are major unfavorable factors that affect crop productivity worldwide. NAC proteins comprise a large family of transcription factors that play important roles in plant growth and development as well as in responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. In a virus-induced gene silencing-based screening to identify genes that are involved in defense response against Botrytis cinerea, we identified a tomato NAC gene SlSRN1 (Solanum lycopersicum Stress-related NAC1). SlSRN1 is a plasma membrane-localized protein with transactivation activity in yeast. Expression of SlSRN1 was significantly induced by infection with B. cinerea or Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) DC3000, leading to 6-8 folds higher than that in the mock-inoculated plants. Expression of SlSRN1 was also induced by salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and 1-amino cyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid and by drought stress. Silencing of SlSRN1 resulted in increased severity of diseases caused by B. cinerea and Pst DC3000. However, silencing of SlSRN1 resulted in increased tolerance against oxidative and drought stresses. Furthermore, silencing of SlSRN1 accelerated accumulation of reactive oxygen species but attenuated expression of defense genes after infection by B. cinerea. Our results demonstrate that SlSRN1 is a positive regulator of defense response against B. cinerea and Pst DC3000 but is a negative regulator for oxidative and drought stress response in tomato.

• Authors: Bo Liu, Zhigang Ouyang, Yafen Zhang, Xiaohui Li, Yongbo Hong, Lei Huang, Shixia Liu, Huijuan Zhang, Dayong Li, Fengming Song
• Journal: PloS one (PLoS One) Vol. 9 Issue 7 Pg. e102067 ( 2014) ISSN: 1932-6203 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25010573 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Plant Growth Regulators
• Plant Proteins
• Reactive Oxygen Species
• Transcription Factors

Topics

• Amino Acid Sequence
• Botrytis (drug effects, physiology)
• Cell Membrane (metabolism)
• Disease Resistance (drug effects)
• Droughts
• Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
• Gene Silencing (drug effects)
• Solanum lycopersicum (genetics, immunology, microbiology)
• Molecular Sequence Data
• Oxidative Stress (drug effects)
• Phylogeny
• Plant Diseases (genetics, immunology, microbiology)
• Plant Growth Regulators (pharmacology)
• Plant Proteins (chemistry, genetics, metabolism)
• Protein Transport
• Pseudomonas (drug effects)
• Reactive Oxygen Species (metabolism)
• Sequence Alignment
• Signal Transduction (drug effects, genetics)
• Stress, Physiological (drug effects, genetics)
• Subcellular Fractions (metabolism)
• Transcription Factors (chemistry, genetics, metabolism)
• Transcriptional Activation