Open Access
ARTICLE
Chickpea C2H2-Type Zinc Finger Protein ZF2 is a Positive Regulator in Drought Response in Arabidopsis
Sushuang Liu1,2,#, Yanmin Liu1,2,#, Chundong Liu1, Xingwang Yu2,3, Hao Ma2,4,*
1 Department of Life Sciences and Health, Huzhou College, Huzhou, 313000, China
2 State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
3 Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, 27695-7620, USA
4 Institute of Desert in the Arid Areas, College of Grassland and Environment Sciences, Xinjiang Agricultural University, Urumqi, 830052, China
* Corresponding Author: Hao Ma. Email:
(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Identification of Genetic/Epigenetic Components Responding to Biotic and Abiotic Stresses in Crops)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(2), 577-590. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.023738
Received 12 May 2022; Accepted 26 July 2022; Issue published 12 October 2022
Abstract
Drought is a major abiotic stress limiting agricultural crops production worldwide. In our study, we isolated a novel C2H2-type zinc finger protein gene
ZF2 from chickpea. ZF2 consisted of 232 amino acids with two QALGGH motifs in Cys2/His2 zinc finger domain. Transient expression analysis of ZF2:GFP fusion protein showed that ZF2 was a nuclear localized protein. In the yeast assay system, the full-length of ZF2 did not show transcriptional activation. Expression of
ZF2 gene was enhanced by treatments of several abiotic stresses and phytohormones. The promoter region of
ZF2 contained multiple stress- and hormone-related cis-elements. Overexpression of
ZF2 in Arabidopsis significantly improved the root length and fresh weight at seedling stage and enhanced the survival rates and proline content under drought treatment. These results indicated that ZF2 functioned as a positive regulator in drought response.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Liu, S., Liu, Y., Liu, C., Yu, X., Ma, H. (2023). Chickpea C2H2-Type Zinc Finger Protein ZF2 is a Positive Regulator in Drought Response in Arabidopsis.
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, 92(2), 577–590. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.023738