PdbCRF5 Overexpression Negatively Regulates Salt Tolerance by Downregulating PdbbZIP61 to Mediate Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging and ABA Synthesis in Populus davidiana × P. bolleana

Xiaojin Lei; Jiaru Fang; Ziqian Zhang; Zhengyang Li; Yumeng Xu; Qingjun Xie; Yuanyuan Wang; Zhongyuan Liu; Yanmin Wang; Caiqiu Gao

doi:10.1111/pce.15199

PdbCRF5 Overexpression Negatively Regulates Salt Tolerance by Downregulating PdbbZIP61 to Mediate Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging and ABA Synthesis in Populus davidiana × P. bolleana

Plant Cell Environ. 2024 Oct 15. doi: 10.1111/pce.15199. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xiaojin Lei¹, Jiaru Fang¹, Ziqian Zhang¹, Zhengyang Li¹, Yumeng Xu¹, Qingjun Xie¹, Yuanyuan Wang¹, Zhongyuan Liu¹, Yanmin Wang^{2

3}, Caiqiu Gao¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China.
² Forestry Research Institute of Heilongjiang Province, Harbin, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Fast-Growing Tree Cultivation of Heilongjiang Province, Harbin, China.

PMID: 39403882
DOI: 10.1111/pce.15199

Abstract

Salt stress is the main factor limiting the large-scale cultivation of Shanxin poplar; therefore, improving its salt tolerance is crucial. In this study, we identified and characterized a CRF gene (PdbCRF5) in Shanxin poplar. Compared with the wild-type poplar, the Shanxin poplar overexpressing PdbCRF5 were more sensitive to salt stress. The PdbCRF5-silenced plants exhibited improved salt tolerance. ChIP‒PCR, EMSA, and Y1H confirmed that PdbCRF5 can regulate the expression of the PdbbZIP61 by binding to ABRE element. Further analysis revealed that the overexpression of PdbbZIP61 can reduce cell damage by increasing ROS scavenging, and on the other hand, overexpression of PdbbZIP61 can improve the salt tolerance of Shanxin poplar by regulating the expression of the PdbNCED genes to increase the ABA content. In addition, we also demonstrated that PdbCRF5 can inhibit the expression of the PdbbZIP61 in combination with PdbCRF6. The overexpression of PdbCRF6 also reduced the salt tolerance of Shanxin poplar. Therefore, we found that PdbCRF5 negatively regulates the salt tolerance of Shanxin poplar by inhibiting the PdbbZIP61, indicating that PdbCRF5 plays an important role in the tolerance of Shanxin poplar to salt stress and is an important candidate gene for gene editing and breeding in forest trees.

Keywords: PdbCRF5; PdbCRF6; PdbbZIP61; Populus davidiana × P. bolleana; salt response.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2572023CT03), the Research Fund for Provincial Research Institutes Project of Heilongjiang Province (CZKYF2023-1-B022, ZD2022-03), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0600106).