Understanding AP2/ERF Transcription Factor Responses and Tolerance to Various Abiotic Stresses in Plants: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Abiotic stress is an adverse environmental factor that severely affects plant growth and development, and plants have developed complex regulatory mechanisms to adapt to these unfavourable conditions through long-term evolution. In recent years, many transcription factor families of genes have been identified to regulate the ability of plants to respond to abiotic stresses. Among them, the AP2/ERF (APETALA2/ethylene responsive factor) family is a large class of plant-specific proteins that regulate plant response to abiotic stresses and can also play a role in regulating plant growth and development. This paper reviews the structural features and classification of AP2/ERF transcription factors that are involved in transcriptional regulation, reciprocal proteins, downstream genes, and hormone-dependent signalling and hormone-independent signalling pathways in response to abiotic stress. The AP2/ERF transcription factors can synergise with hormone signalling to form cross-regulatory networks in response to and tolerance of abiotic stresses. Many of the AP2/ERF transcription factors activate the expression of abiotic stress-responsive genes that are dependent or independent of abscisic acid and ethylene in response to abscisic acid and ethylene. In addition, the AP2/ERF transcription factors are involved in gibberellin, auxin, brassinosteroid, and cytokinin-mediated abiotic stress responses. The study of AP2/ERF transcription factors and interacting proteins, as well as the identification of their downstream target genes, can provide us with a more comprehensive understanding of the mechanism of plant action in response to abiotic stress, which can improve plants’ ability to tolerate abiotic stress and provide a more theoretical basis for increasing plant yield under abiotic stress.

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“…The AP2/ERF gene family is one of the important transcription factor families involved in plant growth, development, and response to various abiotic stresses [37]. Previous studies have shown significant differences in the number of AP2/ERF gene family members among different plants [38,39,40,41].…”

“…Raw counts of Hi-C links were aggregated and separately by using Juicer [35] and 3D-DNA [36]. The Juicebox [37] software was used to adjust the placement and orientation errors.…”

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“…This regulatory process governs gene expression, ultimately fine-tuning plant tolerance in reaction to abiotic stresses. The AP2/ERF and MYB transcription factor families are ubiquitous among plants, playing pivotal roles in regulating responses to abiotic stresses while also influencing plant growth and development [ 40 , 41 ]. In our results, the promoters of OsSHMT family members contain numerous ABA and JA response elements ( Figure 4 A).…”

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“…The AP2/ERF TFs play a critical role in modulating gene expression during abiotic stress, primarily through the MAPK and ethylene signaling pathways [94]. The AP2/ERF family is categorized into five groups: RAV, DREB, AP2, Soloist, and ERF.…”