Cys 2 His 2 Zinc Finger Transcription Factor BcabaR1 Positively Regulates Abscisic Acid Production in Botrytis cinerea

Abstract

Abscisic acid (ABA) could make a potentially important contribution to theoretical research and applications in agriculture and medicine. Botrytis cinerea is a plant-pathogenic fungus that was found to produce ABA. There has been a view that ABA is related to the interaction between pathogenic fungi and plants. Identification of regulatory genes involved in ABA biosynthesis may facilitate an understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of ABA biosynthesis and the pathogenesis of B. cinerea . Here, we present a positive regulator, BcabaR1, of ABA biosynthesis in B. cinerea that can affect the transcriptional level of the ABA biosynthesis gene cluster, bcaba1 to - 4 , by directly binding to the conserved sequence elements in the promoter of the bcaba1 to - 4 genes. This TF was found to be specifically involved in regulation of ABA biosynthesis. This work provides new clues for finding other ABA biosynthesis genes and improving ABA yield in B. cinerea .