Expression of DREB-Like Genes in Coffea canephora and C. arabica Subjected to Various Types of Abiotic Stress

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the regulation of coffee DREB-like genes in leaves of C. arabica subjected to cold, heat, low relative humidity, exogenous abscisic acid and high light stress, as well as in leaves and roots of drought-tolerant and droughtsusceptible clones of Coffea canephora subjected to water limitation. In C. arabica, CaERF017 was the most expressed gene under low temperatures and relative humidity, while low humidity and high temperatures up-regulated the expression of CaERF053 and CaERF014, respectively. Under water limitation, CcDREB1B, CcRAP2.4, CcERF027, CcDREB1D and CcTINY were the most expressed genes mainly in leaves of drought-tolerant C. canephora. On the other hand, expression of the CcERF016, CcRAP2.4 and CcDREB2F genes was highly up-regulated under water limitation in the roots of drought-susceptible C. canephora clone 22. We previously reported fine-tuned regulation of CcDREB1D promoter haplotypes (HP15, HP16 and HP17) in transgenic C. arabica subjected to low humidity. Here, we investigated the regulation of these haplotypes under high light, cold, heat, and abscisic acid (ABA) stress. In apical buds and leaf guard cells, GUS-stained percentages were higher in pHP16L-transformed plants subjected to low humidity, high light and ABA stress than in pHP17L-and pHP15L-transformed plants. We also reported up-regulated expression of the endogenous CaDREB1D gene for both the cold and low humidity in leaves of pHP16L-transformed C. arabica suggesting a key role of this gene in controlling the responses of coffee plants to abiotic stress probably through an ABA-dependent pathway.Keywords Abiotic stress . Abscisic acid -coffee -DREB -gene expression -promoter Key message: DREB-like genes are differentially expressed in drought-tolerant and susceptible clones of C. canephora subjected to different abiotic stress. In C. arabica, both cold, low humidity and ABA up-regulate CaDREB1D gene expression.

Photochemical efficiency correlated with candidate gene expression promote coffee drought tolerance

“…Accordingly, the gene expression analysis showed that for CaMYB1, CaERF017 and CaEDR2 , transcript levels coding for these regulatory proteins were higher in the tolerant progenies 5 and 12 as compared to the others. In C. arabica CaERF017 gene was identified as C canephora DREB-like gene 25 . The DREB (Dehydration Responsive Element Binding) gene family corresponds to key transcription factors involved in responses to various abiotic stresses, which regulate the expression of various responsive genes, acting downstream of ABA-dependent and -independent signal transduction pathways 33 , 34 .…”

“…At the molecular level, previous reports have identified candidate genes in different tissues (leaves, roots, plagiotropic buds) of drought-tolerant (DT) and drought-susceptible (DS) plants of C. canephora 18 – 22 and C. arabica 19 , 23 – 25 displaying differential expression profiles under drought stress. These CGs were separated in classes: (i) Genes related to ABA synthase and signaling pathway such as Ca NCED, CaPYL8a, CaPYL8b, CaPYR1, CaSNRK2.8 and CaSNRK2.10 and CaAHG3 encoding a 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase, ABA receptors and proteins phosphatase, respectively.…”

Transcriptomic Leaf Profiling Reveals Differential Responses of the Two Most Traded Coffee Species to Elevated [CO2]

“…The higher upregulation of Cc00_g06550 in Icatu in relation to CL153 could indicate an important role to boost development and growth of Icatu under eCO 2 since gibberellins are a class of hormones well known to regulate plant growth and development and increasing tolerance to abiotic stresses [75]. In contrast, the upregulation of the dehydration-responsive element Cc02_g03430 in CL153 and its down-regulation in Icatu as a response to eCO 2 could indicate a potentially better tolerance response of CL153 than Icatu, since this gene family includes key transcription factors involved in plant responses to various abiotic stresses, including drought tolerance in coffee leaves [76,77].…”

Peer Review #3 of "Identification and expression analysis of the DREB transcription factor family in pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) (v0.1)"

“…Therefore, it is possible that these genes may have applications in improving fruit quality through molecular breeding. DREB genes respond to stress conditions through differential expression in shoots and roots (Torres et al 2019) . We therefore quantified the transcript levels of eight AcoDREB genes in pineapple seedlings subjected to different abiotic stress conditions.…”