Arabidopsis HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTORA1b regulates multiple developmental genes under benign and stress conditions

Abstract

In Arabidopsis thaliana, HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTORA1b (HSFA1b) controls resistance to environmental stress and is a determinant of reproductive fitness by influencing seed yield. To understand how HSFA1b achieves this, we surveyed its genome-wide targets (ChIP-seq) and its impact on the transcriptome (RNA-seq) under non-stress (NS), heat stress (HS) in the wild type, and in HSFA1b-overexpressing plants under NS. A total of 952 differentially expressed HSFA1b-targeted genes were identified, of which at least 85 are development associated and were bound predominantly under NS. A further 1780 genes were differentially expressed but not bound by HSFA1b, of which 281 were classified as having development-associated functions. These genes are indirectly regulated through a hierarchical network of 27 transcription factors (TFs). Furthermore, we identified 480 natural antisense non-coding RNA (cisNAT) genes bound by HSFA1b, defining a further mode of indirect regulation. Finally, HSFA1b-targeted genomic features not only harboured heat shock elements, but also MADS box, LEAFY, and G-Box promoter motifs. This revealed that HSFA1b is one of eight TFs that target a common group of stress defence and developmental genes. We propose that HSFA1b transduces environmental cues to many stress tolerance and developmental genes to allow plants to adjust their growth and development continually in a varying environment.

Accelerated flowering time reduces lifetime water use without penalizing reproductive performance in Arabidopsis

“…This is perhaps unsurprising, because a plant that lives for a longer period is likely to use more water; however, this occurred without apparent gain of reproductive biomass (Figures b and S11b). Interestingly, other development associated genes such as ERECTA (Masle et al, ; Villagarcia, Morin, Shpak, & Khodakovskaya, ; Shen et al, ), SHORT VEGETATIVE PROTEIN ( SVP or AGL22 ; Bechtold et al, ), and HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR A1b (Bechtold et al, ; Albihlal et al, ) have been shown to affect stomatal function, stress tolerance, and plant development in Arabidopsis and other plant species.…”

“…Interestingly, other development associated genes such as ERECTA(Masle et al, 2005;Villagarcia, Morin, Shpak, & Khodakovskaya, 2012;Shen et al, 2015), SHORT VEGETATIVE PROTEIN (SVP or AGL22;Bechtold et al, 2016), and HEAT SHOCK TRANSCRIPTION FAC-TOR A1b(Bechtold et al, 2013;Albihlal et al, 2018) have been shown to affect stomatal function, stress tolerance, and plant development in Arabidopsis and other plant species.…”

Genome-wide analysis and expression profiling of the heat shock transcription factor gene family in Physic Nut (Jatropha curcas L.)

“…Increasing research indicated that HSF is involved in plant development, biotic and abiotic stress. For example, overexpression of HsfA1a, HsfA1b, HsfA2 or Hsf3 in Arabidopsis promoted its stress tolerance (Qian et al, 2014;Albihlal et al, 2018;Ogawa, Yamaguchi & Nishiuchi, 2007;Prandl et al, 1998). Similar stress tolerance phenotypes were also found in tobacco (Personat et al, 2014).…”

Interaction between the Circadian Clock and Regulators of Heat Stress Responses in Plants

“…Together, HSFs are expressed throughout the day (morning, afternoon, and evening), with at least one HSF showing timing of peak expression (phase) every 4 h (Figure 3) [29,81]. Although not all HSFs respond to heat stress, this TF family plays a role in other abiotic stress responses [50,59,[81][82][83]. The observation that they are available at almost all time points during the day supports an important functional role of HSFs in the plant response to external stress signals, which is most likely mediated by the clock.…”

“…HSFA1e, A3, A4a, A6b, A8, B2aI, and C1 are direct targets of clock genes based on chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-seq); however, experimental evidence to link the biological significance of these interactions needs to be further examined [84][85][86][87][88]. Interestingly, one of the HSFs (HSFB2b) has been shown to play a role in the clock's ability to buffer against certain temperature changes, suggesting a feedback regulatory A B Although not all HSFs respond to heat stress, this TF family plays a role in other abiotic stress responses [50,59,[81][82][83]. The observation that they are available at almost all time points during the day supports an important functional role of HSFs in the plant response to external stress signals, which is most likely mediated by the clock.…”