Loss of Arabidopsis 5′–3′ Exoribonuclease AtXRN4 Function Enhances Heat Stress Tolerance of Plants Subjected to Severe Heat Stress

mRNA degradation plays an important role in the rapid and dynamic alteration of gene expression in response to environmental stimuli. Arabidopsis 5'-3' exoribonuclease (AtXRN4), a homolog of yeast Xrn1p, functions after a de-capping step in the degradation of uncapped RNAs. While Xrn1p-dependent degradation of mRNA is the main process of mRNA decay in yeast, information pertaining to the targets of XRN4-based degradation in plants is limited. In order to better understand the biological function of AtXRN4, the current study examined the survivability of atxrn4 mutants subjected to heat stress. The results indicated that atxrn4 mutants, compared with wild-type plants, exhibited an increased survival rate when subjected to a short-term severe heat stress. A microarray and mRNA decay assay showed that loss of AtXRN4 function caused a reduction in the degradation of heat shock factor A2 (HSFA2) and ethylene response factor 1 (ERF1) mRNA. The heat stress tolerance phenotype of atxrn4 mutants was significantly reduced or lost by mutation of HSFA2, a known key regulator of heat acclimation, thus indicating that HSFA2 is a target gene of AtXRN4-mediated mRNA degradation both under non-stress conditions and during heat acclimation. These results demonstrate that AtXRN4-mediated mRNA degradation is linked to the suppression of heat acclimation.