Ethylene positively regulates cold tolerance in grapevine by modulating the expression of ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR 057

Abstract

Ethylene (ET) is a gaseous plant hormone that plays essential roles in biotic and abiotic stress responses in plants. However, the role of ET in cold tolerance varies in different species. This study revealed that low temperature promotes the release of ET in grapevine. The treatment of exogenous 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate increased the cold tolerance of grapevine. By contrast, the application of the ET biosynthesis inhibitor aminoethoxyvinylglycine reduced the cold tolerance of grapevine. This finding suggested that ET positively affected cold stress responses in grapevine. The expression of VaERF057, an ET signaling downstream gene, was strongly induced by low temperature. The overexpression of VaERF057 also enhanced the cold tolerance of Arabidopsis. Under cold treatment, malondialdehyde content was lower and superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase activities were higher in transgenic lines than in wild-type plants. RNA-Seq results showed that 32 stress-related genes, such as CBF1-3, were upregulated in VaERF057-overexpressing transgenic line. Yeast one-hybrid results further demonstrated that VaERF057 specifically binds to GCC-box and DRE motifs. Thus, VaERF057 may directly regulate the expression of its target stress-responsive genes by interacting with a GCC-box or a DRE element. Our work confirmed that ET positively regulates cold tolerance in grapevine by modulating the expression of VaERF057.

ERF109 of trifoliate orange (Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf.) contributes to cold tolerance by directly regulating expression of Prx1 involved in antioxidative process

“…Ethylene plays important roles in regulating responses to a wide variety of external environmental stimuli, and ERFs are crucial components for relaying the ethylene signalling (Yang et al ., ). Several ERFs have been previously reported to be induced by ethylene, such as JERF1 (Zhang et al ., ), OsERF1 (Hu et al ., 2008b), and VaERF057 (Sun et al ., ), suggesting that these genes may be implicated in the ethylene signalling pathway to orchestrate stress tolerance.…”

Advances in physiological and molecular aspects of plant cold tolerance

“…However, stress-related genes at transcriptionallevel pattern have been identified by CK but the exact role of CK in cold stress is still unknown (Zwack & Rashotte 2015). Ethylene was proved to increase during low temperature in grapevine (Sun et al 2016). Finally, phytohormones engineering is very promising in plant response to environmental stresses; however, more research is still needed in this field (Wani et al 2016).…”

Effects of low‐temperature conditioning and cold storage on development of chilling injuries and the transcriptome of ‘Wonderful’ pomegranate fruit

“…Overall, these observed changes in TF transcript levels may be involved in controlling the fruits’ molecular adjustments to low storage temperatures. Furthermore, we found that LTC markedly affected the responses to two important phytohormones – ABA and ethylene – both known to be involved in stress responses and acquisition of cold‐stress tolerance (Chandler & Robertson, ; Hughes & Dunn, ; Thomashow, ; Sun et al ., ). In general, the LTC + chilling treatment activated the ABA signalling pathway by upregulating the ABA receptor PYL gene while downregulating two ABA catabolism genes and simultaneously repressed the ethylene signalling pathway by downregulating the ethylene biosynthesis gene ACO and upregulating the CTR1 gene that acts as a negative regulator of ethylene signalling (Fig.…”