1. Exogenous abscisic acid represses rice flowering via SAPK8-ABF1-Ehd1/Ehd2 pathway.
- Author
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Tang, Liqun, Li, Guanghao, Wang, Huimei, Zhao, Juan, Li, Zhiyong, Liu, Xixi, Shu, Yazhou, Liu, Wanning, Wang, Shuang, Huang, Jie, Ying, Jiezheng, Tong, Xiaohong, Yuan, Wenya, Wei, Xiangjin, Tang, Shaoqing, Wang, Yifeng, Bu, Qingyun, and Zhang, Jian
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RICE , *GENETIC transcription regulation , *FLOWERING time , *DELAYED hypersensitivity , *FLOWER arrangers , *FLOWERING of plants , *CRISPRS - Abstract
[Display omitted] • ABF1 is induced by ABA and promotes ABA repression on rice flowering. • SAPK8 phosphorylates ABF1 and strengthens the latter participating in ABA-mediated flowering inhibition. • ABA enhances the direct transcriptional repression of ABF1 on Ehd1 and Ehd2. • ABF1 recruits PRC2 complex to deposit H3K27me3 to suppress Ehd1 and Ehd2. Rice flowering is a major agronomic trait, determining yield and ecological adaptability in particular regions. ABA plays an essential role in rice flowering, but the underlying molecular mechanism remains largely elusive. In this study, we demonstrated a "SAPK8-ABF1- Ehd1/Ehd2 " pathway, through which exogenous ABA represses rice flowering in a photoperiod-independent manner. We generated abf1 and sapk8 mutants using the CRISPR-Cas9 method. Using yeast two-hybrid, Pull down, BiFC and kinase assays, SAPK8 interacted and phosphorylated ABF1. ABF1 directly bound to the promoters of Ehd1 and Ehd2 using ChIP-qPCR, EMSA, and LUC transient transcriptional activity assay, and suppressed the transcription of these genes. Under both long day and short day conditions, simultaneous knock-out of ABF1 and its homolog bZIP40 accelerated flowering, while SAPK8 and ABF1 over-expression lines exhibited delayed flowering and hypersensitivity to ABA-mediated flowering repression. After perceiving the ABA signal, SAPK8 physically binds to and phosphorylates ABF1 to enhance its binding to the promoters of master positive flowering regulators Ehd1 and Ehd2. Upon interacting with FIE2, ABF1 recruited PRC2 complex to deposit H3K27me3 suppressive histone modification on Ehd1 and Ehd2 to suppress these genes transcription, thereby leading to later flowering. Our work highlighted the biological functions of SAPK8 and ABF1 in ABA signaling, flowering control and the involvement of a PRC2-mediated epigenetic repression mechanism in the transcription regulation governed by ABF1 on ABA-mediated rice flowering repression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2024
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