TaWRKY40 transcription factor positively regulate the expression of TaGAPC1 to enhance drought tolerance

Abstract

AbstractBackgroundsDrought stress is one of the major factors that affects wheat yield. Glyceraldehyde-3-Phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is a multifunctional enzyme that plays the important role in abiotic stress and plant development. However, in wheat, limited information about drought-responsive GAPC genes has been reported, and the mechanism underlying the regulation of the GAPC protein is unknown.ResultsIn this study, we evaluated the potential role ofGAPC1in drought stress in wheat and Arabidopsis. We found that the overexpression ofTaGAPC1could enhance the tolerance to drought stress in transgenic Arabidopsis. Yeast one-hybrid library screening and EMSA showed that TaWRKY40 acts as a direct regulator of theTaGAPC1gene. A dual luciferase reporter assay indicated that TaWRKY40 improved theTaGAPC1promoter activity. The results of qRT-PCR in wheat protoplast cells with instantaneous overexpression ofTaWRKY40indicated that the expression level ofTaGAPC1induced by abiotic stress was upregulated by TaWRKY40. Moreover,TaGAPC1promoted H2O2detoxification in response to drought.ConclusionThese results demonstrate that the inducible transcription factor TaWRKY40 could activate the transcription of theTaGAPC1gene, thereby increasing the tolerance of plants to drought stress.