Identification of ERF genes in peanuts and functional analysis of AhERF008 and AhERF019 in abiotic stress response

Abstract

Ethylene-responsive factor (ERF) play an important role in regulating gene expression in plant development and response to stresses. In peanuts (Arachis hypogaea L.), which produce flowers aerially and pods underground, only a few ERF genes have been identified so far. This study identifies 63 ERF unigenes from 247,313 peanut EST sequences available in the NCBI database. The phylogeny, gene structures, and putative conserved motifs in the peanut ERF proteins were analysed. Comparative analysis revealed the absence of two subgroups (A1 and A3) of the ERF family in peanuts; only 10 subgroups were identified in peanuts compared to 12 subgroups in Arabidopsis and soybeans. AP2/ERF domains were found to be conserved among peanuts, Arabidopsis, and soybeans. Outside the AP2/ERF domain, many soybean-specific conserved motifs were also detected in peanuts. The expression analysis of ERF family genes representing each clade revealed differential expression patterns in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Overexpression of AhERF008 influenced the root gravity of Arabidopsis, whereas overexpression of AhERF019 enhanced tolerance to drought, heat, and salt stresses in Arabidopsis. The information generated in this study will be helpful to further investigate the function of ERFs in plant development and stress response.

Genome‐wide dissection of AP2/ERF and HSP90 gene families in five legumes and expression profiles in chickpea and pigeonpea

“…DREBs (A1–A6) were classified mainly into Groups I to III in the case of chickpea, whereas these were grouped into Groups I to IV in the case of pigeonpea and Medicago and into Groups I to V in the case of common bean and Lotus. However, in case of peanut, two subgroups (A1 and A3) were found to be absent (Wan et al ., ). A total of 11 major groups were identified (Groups I–XI) in pigeonpea.…”

“…Expression results prompt the identification of probable tissue and stage‐specific candidate genes which can counteract the given stress condition. Similar studies in peanut against heat stress resulted in stress tolerant AhERF019 transgenic Arabidopsis plants (Wan et al ., ). In soybean, expression analysis and transgenic tobacco plants developed using GmERF057 and GmERF089 revealed enhanced tolerance to salt and drought stress, but not to pathogen stress under GmERF089 overexpression.…”

Influence of Salt Stress on Growth of Spermosphere Bacterial Communities in Different Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) Cultivars

“…Peanut or groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.), an important nutritious food and cash crop, is consumed both as oilseed and livestock fodder, forming an important revenue source for farmers [1,2]. As a moderately salt-sensitive species, cultivation of peanuts was attempted in low-salinity fields in China to gain more crop production [3,4]. Peanuts growing in these types of fields are impaired by soil salinity throughout their life cycle and their seed germination is the more sensitive stage to salt stress [3,5].…”

“…As a moderately salt-sensitive species, cultivation of peanuts was attempted in low-salinity fields in China to gain more crop production [3,4]. Peanuts growing in these types of fields are impaired by soil salinity throughout their life cycle and their seed germination is the more sensitive stage to salt stress [3,5]. Soil salinity can create osmotic potential around the seed and cause excessive ion toxicity (Na + and Cl − ) to seeds [6][7][8].…”

Transcriptome-based discovery of AP2/ERF transcription factors related to temperature stress in tea plant (Camellia sinensis)

“…DREB subfamily TFs typically bind to dehydration-responsive element (DRE)/C-repeat (CRT) sequences (A/GCCGAC) and activate many abiotic stressresponsive genes (Baker et al 1994;Jiang et al 1996;Karki et al 2013). ERF subfamily TFs can bind to the GCC box (AGCCGCC) in the promoters of ethyleneinducible genes that encode pathogenesis-related proteins (Ohmetakagi and Shinshi 1995;Wan et al 2014;Deokar et al 2015). RAV subfamily TFs are involved in many physiological and developmental pathways (Woo et al 2010;Leivar and Quail 2011), and biotic and abiotic stresses (Sohn et al 2006;Li et al 2011).…”