An R2R3 MYB transcription factor PsFLP regulates the symmetric division of guard mother cells during stomatal development in Pisum sativum

Abstract

MYB transcriptional regulators belong to one of the most significant transcription factors families in plants, among which R2R3‐MYB transcription factors are involved in plant growth and development, hormone signal transduction, and stress response. Two R2R3‐MYB transcription factors, FLP and its paralogous AtMYB88, redundantly regulate the symmetrical division of guard mother cells (GMCs), and abiotic stress response in Arabidopsis thaliana. Only one orthologue gene of FLP was identified in pea (Pisum sativum FLP; PsFLP). In this study, we explored the gene function of PsFLP by virus‐induced gene silencing (VIGS) technology. The phenotypic analysis displayed that the silencing of PsFLP expression led to the abnormal development of stomata and the emergence of multiple guard cells tightly united. In addition, the abnormal stomata of flp could be fully rescued by PsFLP driven by the FLP promoter. In conclusion, the results showed that PsFLP plays a conservative negative role in regulating the symmetric division of GMC during stomatal development. Based on real‐time quantitative PCR, the relative expressions of AAO3, NCED3, and SnRK2.3 significantly increased in the flp pFLP::PsFLP plants compared to mutant, indicating that PsFLP might be involved in drought stress response. Thus, PsFLP regulates the genes related to cell cycle division during the stomatal development of peas and participates in response to drought stress. The study provides a basis for further research on its function and application in leguminous crop breeding.

Analyzing the Diversity of MYB Family Response Strategies to Drought Stress in Different Flax Varieties Based on Transcriptome Data

“…The Lus.scaffold70.240 gene is a homologue of the AtMYB88 gene of Arabidopsis thaliana , and the AtMYB88 gene can regulate the late division of stomatal cell lineage [ 58 ]. qRT-PCR showed that PsFLP , the homologous gene of AtMYB88 in Pisum sativum , was involved in the response of Pisum sativum to drought stress [ 59 ]. Lus.scaffold4.116 and Lus.scaffold144.21 are the homologous genes of the Arabidopsis thaliana MYB family TBP-like type genes— AT1G07540 and AT3G12560 ( Supplementary Table S5 )—which play an important role in regulating the structure and function of eukaryotic telomeres.…”