The ethylene response factor VaERF092 from Amur grape regulates the transcription factor VaWRKY33, improving cold tolerance

Abstract

Summary Cold stress is a major limiting factor in grape (Vitis) productivity. In this study, we characterized a cold‐responsive ethylene response factor (ERF) transcription factor, VaERF092, from Amur grape (Vitis amurensis). VaERF092 expression was induced by both low temperatures and the ethylene precursor 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylate (ACC), but was suppressed by treatment with the ethylene inhibitor aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) under cold conditions. Ectopic expression of VaERF092 in Arabidopsis thaliana enhanced cold tolerance. Co‐expression network analysis of V. vinifera genes indicated that WRKY33 might be a downstream target of VaERF092. This hypothesis was supported by the fact that VaWRKY33 was expressed temporally after VaERF092 expression and could also be induced by cold and ACC, and inhibited by AVG. Yeast one‐hybrid, transient β‐glucuronidase (GUS) and dual‐luciferase reporter assays provided evidence for an interaction between VaERF092 and a GCC‐box element in the VaWRKY33 promoter. In addition, heterologous overexpression of VaWRKY33 in A. thaliana resulted in enhanced cold tolerance. VaERF092‐ and VaWRKY33 overexpressing grape calli showed lower low‐temperature exothermic values than the empty vector (EV) calli, indicating enhanced tolerance to cold. Together, these results indicated that VaERF092 regulates VaWRKY33 through binding to its promoter GCC‐box, leading to enhanced cold stress tolerance.

Comparative Transcriptome-Based Mining and Expression Profiling of Transcription Factors Related to Cold Tolerance in Peanut

“…Zhang et al [49] suggested that overexpression of VaWRKY12, whose nuclear translocation increased under low temperature, enhanced the cold tolerance of Arabidopsis and grapevine calli and significantly increased the expression of antioxidant-related genes. Under cold stress, VaWRKY33 can be regulated by ethylene response factor VaERF092 through binding to its promoter GCC-box, leading to enhanced cold stress tolerance [50]. In our study, arahy.E3SE4T and arahy.EVAW89, orthologous to A. thaliana WRKY70 and WRKY53, were significantly upregulated in NH5 under cold stress.…”

Biosynthesis and Cellular Functions of Tartaric Acid in Grapevines

“…A new approach to identifying candidates for the remaining steps takes advantage of publicly available 'omics' data banks and analysis tools. Gene co-expression networks (GCNs) are an emerging resource to study grapevine metabolism (Malacarne et al, 2016;Vannozzi et al, 2018), fruit development/ripening (Massonnet et al, 2017) and stress responses (Savoi et al, 2017;Sun et al, 2018Sun et al, , 2019. Central to GCN analysis is the 'guilt-by-association' principle whereby genes that share common functions or related processes are often co-ordinately regulated across a wide range of conditions (e.g., multiple tissues, developmental stages, stress, hormones, etc.).…”

Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Peanut

“…It was reported that an organ-specific expression pattern is established by AtPRB1, which responds to ethylene and methyl jasmonate in Arabidopsis [48]. Ethylene response factor (ERF) transcription factor, VaERF092, from Amur grape binds the promoter GCC-box of VaWRKY33, leading to enhanced cold stress tolerance in Arabidopsis [49]. Together, these target genes of all hub lncRNAs were related to a number of functions, such as growth and development and response to abiotic and biotic stress, suggesting that lncRNAs play multiple functions in peanut.…”