AP2/ERF Transcription Factor Regulatory Networks in Hormone and Abiotic Stress Responses in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Dynamic environmental changes such as extreme temperature, water scarcity and high salinity affect plant growth, survival, and reproduction. Plants have evolved sophisticated regulatory mechanisms to adapt to these unfavorable conditions, many of which interface with plant hormone signaling pathways. Abiotic stresses alter the production and distribution of phytohormones that in turn mediate stress responses at least in part through hormone- and stress-responsive transcription factors. Among these, the APETALA2/ETHYLENE RESPONSIVE FACTOR (AP2/ERF) family transcription factors (AP2/ERFs) have emerged as key regulators of various stress responses, in which they also respond to hormones with improved plant survival during stress conditions. Apart from participation in specific stresses, AP2/ERFs are involved in a wide range of stress tolerance, enabling them to form an interconnected stress regulatory network. Additionally, many AP2/ERFs respond to the plant hormones abscisic acid (ABA) and ethylene (ET) to help activate ABA and ET dependent and independent stress-responsive genes. While some AP2/ERFs are implicated in growth and developmental processes mediated by gibberellins (GAs), cytokinins (CTK), and brassinosteroids (BRs). The involvement of AP2/ERFs in hormone signaling adds the complexity of stress regulatory network. In this review, we summarize recent studies on AP2/ERF transcription factors in hormonal and abiotic stress responses with an emphasis on selected family members in Arabidopsis . In addition, we leverage publically available Arabidopsis gene networks and transcriptome data to investigate AP2/ERF regulatory networks, providing context and important clues about the roles of diverse AP2/ERFs in controlling hormone and stress responses.

Characterisation of the ERF102 to ERF105 genes of Arabidopsis thaliana and their role in the response to cold stress

“…Thus, not all four ERF genes were transcriptionally regulated by heat, drought, NaCl, or mannitol (Figure 2). Together, the analysis of transcriptional regulation is in line with the idea that ERF102 to ERF105 have roles in multiple hormone and stress responses as was shown for these and other ERFs in a number of cases (Bethke et al ., 2009; Dubois et al ., 2013, 2015; reviewed by Licausi, Ohme-Takagi & Perata 2013; Mase et al ., 2013; Meng et al ., 2013; Moffat et al ., 2012; Moore et al ., 2014; Sewelam et al ., 2013; Son et al ., 2012; Vogel et al ., 2014; Xie et al ., 2019).…”

“…The β-strands bind to an 11 bp consensus sequence (5’-TAAGAGCCGCC-3’), the GCC-Box, in the major groove of the DNA double helix (Hao, Ohme-Takagi & Sarai, 1998). ERF transcription factors are involved in the regulation of numerous developmental processes (Riechmann & Meyerowitz, 1998) and they are important for the response to various biotic and abiotic stresses including cold (Agarwal, Agarwal, Reddy & Sopory, 2006b; Kizis, Lumbreras & Pages, 2001; Srivastava & Kumar 2019; Xie, Nolan, Jiang & Yin, 2019).…”

Identification of key tissue-specific, biological processes by integrating enhancer information in maize gene regulatory networks

“…This module is regulated by two TFs, ERF039 and EREB10, whose functions are unknown in maize. Nevertheless, based on studies in other species, they are likely to be involved in response to biotic and abiotic stresses [44,41]. For instance, an ortholog of ERF039 (also ortholog to A. thaliana ERF38) is involved in salt and osmotic tolerance in poplar [45].…”

Ancestral duplicatedDL/CRCorthologs display function on orchid reproductive organ innovation

“…Down-regulated AP2/ERF and WRKY transcription factor genes were also identified from OE-PeDL1 gynostemium. AP2/ERF and WRKY regulators have major functions for hormone sensitivity and stress responses (Dietz et al , 2010; Banerjee & Roychoudhury, 2015; Phukan et al , 2016; Chandler, 2018; Xie et al , 2019). The results suggest that PeDLs not only act as regulators in cell proliferation and sugar transport, but also as modulators of hormone coordination for orchid gynostemium development.…”