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Arabidopsis EARLY FLOWERING 3 increases salt tolerance by suppressing salt stress response pathways
Author(s) -
Sakuraba Yasuhito,
Bülbül Selin,
Piao Weilan,
Choi Giltsu,
Paek NamChon
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the plant journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.058
H-Index - 269
eISSN - 1365-313X
pISSN - 0960-7412
DOI - 10.1111/tpj.13747
Subject(s) - arabidopsis , transcription factor , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , circadian clock , mutant , botany , gene , genetics
Summary Arabidopsis EARLY FLOWERING 3 ( ELF 3) functions in modulating light input to the circadian clock, as a component of ELF 3‐ ELF 4‐ LUX ARRHYTHMO ( LUX ) evening complex. However, the role of ELF 3 in stress responses remains largely unknown. In this study, we show that ELF 3 enhances plants’ resilience to salt stress: ELF 3 ‐overexpressing ( ELF 3 ‐ OX ) plants are salt‐tolerant, while elf3 mutants are more sensitive to salt stress. The expressions of many salt stress‐ and senescence‐associated genes are altered in elf3‐1 and ELF 3 ‐ OX plants compared with wild‐type. During salt stress, ELF 3 suppresses factors that promote salt stress response pathways, mainly GIGANTEA ( GI ), at the post‐translational level, and PHYTOCHROME INTERACTING FACTOR 4 ( PIF 4 ), at the transcriptional level. To enhance the salt stress response, PIF 4 directly downregulates the transcription of JUNGBRUNNEN 1 ( JUB 1/ ANAC 042 ), encoding a transcription factor that upregulates the expression of stress tolerance genes, DREB 2A and DELLA . Furthermore, PIF 4 directly upregulates the transcription of ORESARA 1 ( ORE 1/ ANAC 092 ) and SAG 29 , positive regulators of salt stress response pathways. Based on our results, we propose that ELF 3 modulates key regulatory components in salt stress response pathways at the transcriptional and post‐translational levels.