PMID: 20028842 鐑嚮杞綍鍥犲瓙 鑰愰晧
Plant Cell Advance Online Publication
Published on December 22, 2009; 10.1105/tpc.109.066902
Orthologs of the Class A4 Heat Shock Transcription Factor HsfA4a Confer Cadmium Tolerance in Wheat and Rice ![]()

鐑嚮杞綍鍥犲瓙HsfA4a鍙互鎻愰珮灏忛害鍜屾按绋荤殑鑰愰晧銆
Cadmium (Cd) is a widespread soil pollutant; thus, the underlying molecular controls of plant Cd tolerance are of substantial interest. A screen for wheat (Triticum aestivum) genes that confer Cd tolerance to a Cd hypersensitive yeast strain identified Heat shock transcription factor A4a (HsfA4a). Ta HsfA4a is most similar to the class A4 Hsfs from monocots. The most closely related rice (Oryza sativa) homolog, Os HsfA4a, conferred Cd tolerance in yeast, as did Ta HsfA4a, but the second most closely related rice homolog, Os HsfA4d, did not. Cd tolerance was enhanced in rice plants expressing Ta HsfA4a and decreased in rice plants with knocked-down expression of Os HsfA4a. An analysis of the functional domain using chimeric proteins constructed from Ta HsfA4a and Os HsfA4d revealed that the DNA binding domain (DBD) of HsfA4a is critical for Cd tolerance, and within the DBD, Ala-31 and Leu-42 are important for Cd tolerance. Moreover, Ta HsfA4a鈥搈ediated Cd resistance in yeast requires metallothionein (MT). In the roots of wheat and rice, Cd stress caused increases in HsfA4a expression, together the MT genes. Our findings thus suggest that HsfA4a of wheat and rice confers Cd tolerance by upregulating MT gene expression in planta.

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