A novel activator-type ERF of Thinopyrum intermedium, TiERF1, positively regulates defence responses

Abstract

Thinopyrum intermedium is resistant to many different pathogens. To understand the roles of ethylene response factors (ERFs) in defence responses, the first member of the ERF family in T. intermedium, TiERF1, was characterized and functionally analysed in this study. The TiERF1 gene encodes a putative protein of 292 amino acids, belonging to the B3 subgroup of the ERF transcription factor family. Biochemical assays demonstrated that the TiERF1 protein is capable of binding to the GCC box, a cis-element present in the promoters of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes, and possessing transactivation activity, as well as localizing to the nucleus. The transcript of TiERF1 in T. intermedium is rapidly induced by infection with Rhizoctonia cerealis, Fusarium graminearum, or Blumeria graminis, and ethylene, jasmonic acid, and salicylic acid treatments. More importantly, the ectopic expression of TiERF1 in tobacco activated the transcript of the PR genes of tobacco with a GCC box cis-element, and ACO and ACS genes key to ethylene synthesis, and in turn improved the resistance level to Alternaria alternata and tobacco mosaic virus, as well as causing some phenotypic changes associated with ethylene response in the transgenic tobacco plants. Taken together, TiERF1 protein as an ERF transcription activator positively regulates defence responses via the activation of some defence-related genes.

HC-Pro silencing suppressor significantly alters the gene expression profile in tobacco leaves and flowers

“…Our results indicated that up-regulation of two ethylene responsive transcription factors ( ERF1 and RAV2 (TEMPRANILLO) ) may have caused differential expression of defense-related genes and late flowering phenotype, respectively [27,36,47,49,51,52]. Late flowering phenotype in plants may be also due to problems in measuring the day length, which may induce problems in shifting from vegetative to reproductive phase of growth [33-35].…”

AaERF1 Positively Regulates the Resistance to Botrytis cinerea in Artemisia annua

“…The phylogenetic tree analysis of AaERF1 showed that AaERF1 had close relationship with AtERF2 and TaERF3. AtERF2 and TaERF3 have been well characterized and their functions were mainly related to disease resistance, at least in part, via binding to the GCC box in the promoter region of downstream genes [19], [32]–[34]. So, all above analysis implied that the protein of AaERF1 has a function in disease resistance and may have the GCC Box binding ability.…”

“…The yeast one-hybrid system is a stable system to study the DNA binding ability of transcription factors [19]. The results of yeast one-hybrid and β-galactosidase activity assays indicated that only the hybrid cells containing the combination of pB42AD::AaERF1 and p178-4×GCC-LacZ showed β-galactosidase activity compared with other combinations, including pB42AD with p178-LacZ, pB42AD::AaERF1 with p178-4×GCC-LacZ, pB42AD::AaERF1 with p178-LacZ, and pB42AD with p178-4×GCC-LacZ.…”

Differential expression of peach ERF transcriptional activators in response to signaling molecules and inoculation with Xanthomonas campestris pv. pruni

“…The overexpression of ERFs in different plant species provides further evidence for the pivotal role of these proteins in biotic stress. In many instances overexpression of ERF genes under the control of constitutive promoters has led to enhanced resistance against fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens (Berrocal-Lobo et al, 2002;Gu et al, 2002;Berrocal-Lobo and Molina, 2004;Chen et al, 2008;Liang et al, 2008;Anderson et al, 2010;Dong et al, 2010). Resistance to these pathogens was mostly associated with an increased transcription level of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes in transgenic plants (Gu et al, 2002;Liang et al, 2008).…”

“…In many instances overexpression of ERF genes under the control of constitutive promoters has led to enhanced resistance against fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens (Berrocal-Lobo et al, 2002;Gu et al, 2002;Berrocal-Lobo and Molina, 2004;Chen et al, 2008;Liang et al, 2008;Anderson et al, 2010;Dong et al, 2010). Resistance to these pathogens was mostly associated with an increased transcription level of pathogenesis-related (PR) genes in transgenic plants (Gu et al, 2002;Liang et al, 2008). ERFs can also be transcriptionally regulated by wounding (Tournier et al, 2003), environmental stress (Park et al, 2001;Chen et al, 2002;Zhang et al, 2010), and after treatment with signaling molecules such as salicylic acid (SA), jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) (Chen et al, 2002;Gu et al, 2002;Brown et al, 2003;Lorenzo et al, 2003;Champion et al, 2009).…”