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Jin X, Chai Q, Liu C, Niu X, Li W, Shang X, Gu A, Zhang D, Guo W. Cotton GhNAC4 promotes drought tolerance by regulating secondary cell wall biosynthesis and ribosomal protein homeostasis. Plant J 2024; 117:1052-1068. [PMID: 37934782 DOI: 10.1111/tpj.16538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2023] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/29/2023] [Indexed: 11/09/2023]
Abstract
Drought has a severe impact on the quality and yield of cotton. Deciphering the key genes related to drought tolerance is important for understanding the regulation mechanism of drought stress and breeding drought-tolerant cotton cultivars. Several studies have demonstrated that NAC transcription factors are crucial in the regulation of drought stress, however, the related functional mechanisms are still largely unexplored. Here, we identified that NAC transcription factor GhNAC4 positively regulated drought stress tolerance in cotton. The expression of GhNAC4 was significantly induced by abiotic stress and plant hormones. Silencing of GhNAC4 distinctly impaired the resistance to drought stress and overexpressing GhNAC4 in cotton significantly enhanced the stress tolerance. RNA-seq analysis revealed that overexpression of GhNAC4 enriched the expression of genes associated with the biosynthesis of secondary cell walls and ribosomal proteins. We confirmed that GhNAC4 positively activated the expressions of GhNST1, a master regulator reported previously in secondary cell wall formation, and two ribosomal protein-encoding genes GhRPL12 and GhRPL18p, by directly binding to their promoter regions. Overexpression of GhNAC4 promoted the expression of downstream genes associated with the secondary wall biosynthesis, resulting in enhancing secondary wall deposition in the roots, and silencing of GhRPL12 and GhRPL18p significantly impaired the resistance to drought stress. Taken together, our study reveals a novel pathway mediated by GhNAC4 that promotes secondary cell wall biosynthesis to strengthen secondary wall development and regulates the expression of ribosomal protein-encoding genes to maintain translation stability, which ultimately enhances drought tolerance in cotton.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuanxiang Jin
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Qichao Chai
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Chuchu Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Xin Niu
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Weixi Li
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Xiaoguang Shang
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Aixing Gu
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, 830052, China
| | - Dayong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
| | - Wangzhen Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics & Germplasm Enhancement and Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
- Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for Cotton Germplasm Enhancement and Application, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
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