AtMYB44 belongs to the R2R3 MYB subgroup 22 transcription factor family in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Treatment with abscisic acid (ABA) induced AtMYB44 transcript accumulation within 30 min. The gene was also activated under various abiotic stresses, such as dehydration, low temperature, and salinity. In transgenic Arabidopsis carrying an AtMYB44 promoterdriven b-glucuronidase (GUS) construct, strong GUS activity was observed in the vasculature and leaf epidermal guard cells. Transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing AtMYB44 is more sensitive to ABA and has a more rapid ABA-induced stomatal closure response than wild-type and atmyb44 knockout plants. Transgenic plants exhibited a reduced rate of water loss, as measured by the fresh-weight loss of detached shoots, and remarkably enhanced tolerance to drought and salt stress compared to wild-type plants. Microarray analysis and northern blots revealed that salt-induced activation of the genes that encode a group of serine/threonine protein phosphatases 2C (PP2Cs), such as ABI1, ABI2, AtPP2CA, HAB1, and HAB2, was diminished in transgenic plants overexpressing AtMYB44. By contrast, the atmyb44 knockout mutant line exhibited enhanced salt-induced expression of PP2C-encoding genes and reduced drought/salt stress tolerance compared to wild-type plants. Therefore, enhanced abiotic stress tolerance of transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing AtMYB44 was conferred by reduced expression of genes encoding PP2Cs, which have been described as negative regulators of ABA signaling.

SummaryIn Arabidopsis, jasmonate is required for stamen and pollen maturation. Mutants deficient in jasmonate synthesis, such as opr3, are male-sterile but become fertile when jasmonate is applied to developing flower buds. We have used ATH1 oligonucleotide arrays to follow gene expression in opr3 stamens for 22 h following jasmonate treatment. In these experiments, a total of 821 genes were specifically induced by jasmonate and 480 genes were repressed. Comparisons with data from previous studies indicate that these genes constitute a stamen-specific jasmonate transcriptome, with a large proportion (70%) of the genes expressed in the sporophytic tissue but not in the pollen. Bioinformatics tools allowed us to associate many of the induced genes with metabolic pathways that are probably upregulated during jasmonate-induced maturation. Our pathway analysis led to the identification of specific genes within larger families of homologues that apparently encode stamen-specific isozymes. Extensive additional analysis of our dataset identified 13 transcription factors that may be key regulators of the stamen maturation processes triggered by jasmonate. Two of these transcription factors, MYB21 and MYB24, are the only members of subgroup 19 of the R2R3 family of MYB proteins. A myb21 mutant obtained by reverse genetics exhibited shorter anther filaments, delayed anther dehiscence and greatly reduced male fertility. A myb24 mutant was phenotypically wild-type, but production of a myb21 myb24 double mutant indicated that introduction of the myb24 mutation exacerbated all three aspects of the myb21 phenotype. Exogenous jasmonate could not restore fertility to myb21 or myb21 myb24 mutant plants. Together with the data from transcriptional profiling, these results indicate that MYB21 and MYB24 are induced by jasmonate and mediate important aspects of the jasmonate response during stamen development.

Jasmonic acid (JA) is involved in plant development and the defense response. Transgenic overexpression of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase gene (AtJMT) linked to the Ubi1 promoter increased levels of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) by 6-fold in young panicles. Grain yield was greatly reduced in Ubi1:AtJMT plants due to a lower numbers of spikelets and lower filling rates than were observed for nontransgenic (NT) controls. Ubi1:AtJMT plants had altered numbers of spikelet organs, including the lemma/palea, lodicule, anther, and pistil. The loss of grain yield and alteration in spikelet organ numbers were reproduced by treating NT plants with exogenous MeJA, indicating that increased levels of MeJA in Ubi1:AtJMT panicles inhibited spikelet development. Interestingly, MeJA levels were increased by 19-fold in young NT panicles upon exposure to drought conditions, resulting in a loss of grain yield that was similar to that observed in Ubi1:AtJMT plants. Levels of abscisic acid (ABA) were increased by 1.9-and 1.4-fold in Ubi1:AtJMT and drought-treated NT panicles, respectively. The ABA increase in Ubi1:AtJMT panicles grown in nondrought conditions suggests that MeJA, rather than drought stress, induces ABA biosynthesis under drought conditions. Using microarray and quantitative polymerase chain reaction analyses, we identified seven genes that were regulated in both Ubi1:AtJMT and drought-treated NT panicles. Two genes, OsJMT1 and OsSDR (for short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase), are involved in MeJA and ABA biosynthesis, respectively, in rice (Oryza sativa). Overall, our results suggest that plants produce MeJA during drought stress, which in turn stimulates the production of ABA, together leading to a loss of grain yield.Rice (Oryza sativa), the model system for the study of monocotyledonous plants, is a cereal crop consumed by more than half of the world's population. As such, improvements in grain yield are an important focus of research. Since rice plants grow in a paddy field, they are susceptible to water stress and in particular to drought (Yang et al., 2004(Yang et al., , 2007. Approximately 20% of the total worldwide rice growing area is prone to drought (Pandey et al., 2007), and drought is one of the major constraints to rice production worldwide. Although drought conditions can alter the growth and development of rice at any time during its life cycle, drought stress during reproductive growth, but not during vegetative growth, results in a loss of grain yield.Immediately following the transition of rice plants to the reproductive phase, the vegetative meristem is converted into the panicle meristem. The panicle meristem subsequently differentiates in an orderly fashion into primary branches, secondary branches, and spikelet meristems (Ikeda et al., 2004). Rice grain yield is determined by four parameters: number of panicles per plant, number of spikelets per panicle, filling rate, and total seed weight. The number of panicles and spikelets is determined soon after for...