CpBBX19, a B-Box Transcription Factor Gene of Chimonanthus praecox, Improves Salt and Drought Tolerance in Arabidopsis

Abstract

Zinc-finger proteins are important transcription factors in plants, responding to adversity and regulating the growth and development of plants. However, the roles of the BBX gene family of zinc-finger proteins in wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) have yet to be elucidated. In this study, a group IV subfamily BBX gene, CpBBX19, was identified and isolated from wintersweet. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) analyses revealed that CpBBX19 was expressed in all tissues and that expression was highest in cotyledons and inner petals. CpBBX19 was also expressed in all flower development stages, with the highest expression detected in early initiating bloom, followed by late initiating bloom and bloom. In addition, the expression of CpBBX19 was induced by different abiotic stress (cold, heat, NaCl, and drought) and hormone (ABA and MeJA) treatments. Heterologous expression of CpBBX19 in Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) enhanced the tolerance of this plant to salt and drought stress as electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentrations in transgenic Arabidopsis after stress treatments were significantly lower than those in wild-type (WT) plants. In conclusion, this research demonstrated that CpBBX19 plays a role in the abiotic stress tolerance of wintersweet. These findings lay a foundation for future studies on the BBX gene family of wintersweet and enrich understanding of the molecular mechanism of stress resistance in wintersweet.

SlMPK1‐ and SlMPK2‐mediated SlBBX17 phosphorylation positively regulates CBF‐dependent cold tolerance in tomato

“…A series of TFs have been reported to function during cold signal perception, transduction and response processes. Among these TFs, BBX family members are of great importance in plant cold stress responses in Arabidopsis, apple, rice, and wintersweet (C. F. Li et al ., 2021; Wu et al ., 2021). MdBBX20 can respond to low temperatures, thereby promoting anthocyanin accumulation (Fang et al ., 2019).…”

Genome-Wide Survey and Expression Analysis of B-Box Family Genes in Cucumber Reveal Their Potential Roles in Response to Diverse Abiotic and Biotic Stresses

“…In the present study, six CsBBX genes displayed variations in expression under salt stress according to RNA-seq and qRT-PCR results (Figures 6B and 8), indicating that CsBBX genes might play crucial roles in response to salt stress. Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox) CpBBX19 was upregulated by four types of abiotic stress (heat, cold, salt, and drought), and overexpression of CpBBX19 promoted salt and drought stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis plants [58]. In addition, qRT-PCR results showed that five out of the six selected CsBBX genes were differentially expressed under cold stress (Figure 7), suggesting that CsBBX genes might also participate in response to cold stress.…”

Mechanism of cotton resistance to abiotic stress, and recent research advances in the osmoregulation related genes

“…Transcription factor (TF), also known as trans-acting factors, are a type of protein molecules that can specifically bind to cis-acting elements in the promoter region of eukaryotic genes to ensure that the target gene is expressed at a specific intensity at a specific time and place ( Wu et al, 2021 ). Under the stress condition, the transcription factor associated with stress tolerance can regulate the expression of anti-retroviral motifs and transmit the stress signal, and the signal can be involved in the information transmission can be cascaded so that, the transcription factor can be used to improve the resistance of plants ( Wang et al, 2020 ).…”