<i>RtHSFA9s</i> of <i>Rhodomyrtus tomentosa</i> Positively Regulate Thermotolerance by Transcriptionally Activating <i>RtHSFA2s</i> and <i>RtHSPs</i>

<i>RtHSFA9s</i> of <i>Rhodomyrtus tomentosa</i> Positively Regulate Thermotolerance by Transcriptionally Activating <i>RtHSFA2s</i> and <i>RtHSPs</i>

Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are crucial components in heat stress response. However, the contribution of the HSFs governing the inherent thermotolerance in <i>Rhodomyrtus tomentosa</i> has barely been investigated. We here compared the roles of <i>RtHSFA9a</i>, &l...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Huiguang Li, Ling Yang, Yujie Fang, Gui Wang, Tingting Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-12-01
Series:Life
Subjects:
heat shock transcription factor
thermal adaption
functional divergence
transient expression
transactivation
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-1729/14/12/1591
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Summary:Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are crucial components in heat stress response. However, the contribution of the HSFs governing the inherent thermotolerance in <i>Rhodomyrtus tomentosa</i> has barely been investigated. We here compared the roles of <i>RtHSFA9a</i>, <i>RtHSFA9b</i>, and <i>RtHSFA9c</i> in heat stress tolerance. These three genes are the results of gene duplication events, but there exist vast variations in their amino acid sequences. They are all localized to the nucleus. <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i> plants with overexpressed <i>RtHSFA9a</i> and <i>RtHSFA9c</i> outperformed the wild-type plants, while the over-accumulation of <i>RtHSFA9b</i> had little impact on plant thermotolerance. By transiently overexpressing <i>RtHSFA9a</i>, <i>RtHSFA9b</i>, and <i>RtHSFA9c</i> in <i>R. tomentosa</i> seedlings, the mRNA abundance of heat shock response genes, including <i>RtHSFA2a</i>, <i>RtHSFA2b</i>, <i>RtHSP17.4</i>, <i>RtHSP21.8</i>, <i>RtHSP26.5</i>, and <i>RtHSP70</i>, were upregulated. Transactivation assays confirmed that there exist regulatory divergences among these three genes, viz., <i>RtHSFA9a</i> has the highest transcription activity in regulating <i>RtHSFA2a</i>, <i>RtHSFA2b</i>, <i>RtHSP21.8</i>, and <i>RtHSP70</i>; <i>RtHSFA9c</i> can transcriptionally activate <i>RtHSFA2b</i>, <i>RtHSP21.8</i>, and <i>RtHSP70</i>; <i>RtHSFA9b</i> makes limited contributions to the accumulation of <i>RtHSFA2b</i>, <i>RtHSP21.8</i>, and <i>RtHSP70</i>. Our results indicate that the <i>RtHSFA9</i> genes make crucial contributions to the thermal adaption of <i>R. tomentosa</i> by positively regulating the <i>RtHSFA2a</i>, <i>RtHSFA2b</i>, and <i>RtHSP</i> genes, which provides novel insights into the <i>RtHSFA9</i> subfamily.
ISSN:2075-1729

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