Transcriptional activities of plants play important roles in responses to environmental stresses. ETHYLENE RESPONSE FACTOR53 (AtERF53) is a drought-induced transcription factor that belongs to the AP2/ERF superfamily and has a highly conserved AP2 domain. It can regulate drought-responsive gene expression by binding to the GCC box and/or the dehydration-responsive element in the promoter of downstream genes. Overexpression of AtERF53 driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter resulted in an unstable drought-tolerant phenotype in T2 transgenic Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) plants. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, we identified a RING domain ubiquitin E3 ligase, RGLG2, which interacts with AtERF53 in the nucleus. The copine domain of RGLG2 exhibited the strongest interacting activity. We also demonstrated that RGLG2 could move from the plasma membrane to the nucleus under stress treatment. Using an in vitro ubiquitination assay, RGLG2 and its closest sequelog, RGLG1, were shown to have E3 ligase activity and mediated AtERF53 ubiquitination for proteasome degradation. The rglg1rglg2 double mutant but not the rglg2 or rglg1 single mutant exhibited a drought-tolerant phenotype when compared with wild-type plants. AtERF53-green fluorescent proteins expressed in the rglg1rglg2 double mutants were stable. The 35S:AtERF53-green fluorescent protein/rglg1rglg2 showed enhanced AtERF53-regulated gene expression and had greater tolerance to drought stress than the rglg1rglg2 double mutant. In conclusion, RGLG2 negatively regulates the drought stress response by mediating AtERF53 transcriptional activity in Arabidopsis.

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Poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene)s (PEDOT) represent a class of conjugated polymers that can be potentially used as an electrode material for flexible organic electronics due to their superior conductivity and transparency. In this study, we demonstrate that the conductivity of a PEDOT containing copolymer film can be further enhanced by the oxidative chemical in situ copolymerization of a liquid film spun coated from monomer mixture (3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT) and 3‐thienyl ethoxybutanesulfonate (TEBS)), oxidant (iron(III) p‐toluenesulfonate (Fe(OTs)3)), weak base (imidazole), and solvent (methanol). We investigated that the effect of the processing parameters such as the molar ratios TEBS/EDOT, IM/EDOT, and Fe(OTs)3/EDOT on the surface morphology, optical property, and the conductivity of the resulting copolymer films. These parameters have been optimized to achieve conductivities for the copolymer films as high as 170 S/cm compared with a conductivity of 30 S/cm for the pure PEDOT film synthesized using the same fabrication method. This conductivity enhancement for the copolymer films was found to be resulted from the fact that the addition of TEBS monomer reduces the copolymerization rate, leading to the formation of much more uniform film surface without defects and copolymers of higher molecular weight which increase the conductivity of the resulting copolymer film. The composition of two monomers in the copolymer film is not related to the variation of conductivity. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 1662–1673, 2008