PlantView Supports Stress Tolerance Research: A PLATZ transcription factor PhePLATZ8 from Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) plays a positive role in regulating growth and abiotic stress tolerance

New progress has been made in understanding the role of the APLATZ transcription factor PhePLATZ8 in regulating moso bamboo growth and abiotic stress tolerance.

Professor Yan Xiang’s research team from the Anhui Key Laboratory of Cultivation and Utilization of Forest Resources, Anhui Agricultural University, has made new progress in elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying stress tolerance in moso bamboo. Their findings were published in “ Industrial Crops and Products” (IF = 5.6, Q1 top journal).

This study provides new insights into the role of PhePLATZ8 in promoting moso bamboo growth and enhancing tolerance to abiotic stresses, particularly drought and salt stress, and reveals its regulatory mechanism through the PheGRF gene network.

Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis) is an important economic plant widely used in construction, furniture, pulp, and other industries. Due to its rapid growth, strong regenerative capacity, and broad adaptability, it has become one of the major bamboo species cultivated worldwide. The cultivation of moso bamboo not only contributes to local economic development but also plays an important role in ecological restoration and soil and water conservation. However, moso bamboo still faces a range of challenges during production, particularly abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, low temperature, and high temperature. These stresses severely affect bamboo growth and yield, making the improvement of stress tolerance important for enhancing its economic value and expanding its cultivation range.

Abiotic stresses, including water stress (drought and excessive moisture), salt stress, low temperature, and high temperature, are commonly encountered in plant growth environments. In response to these stresses, plants enhance their survival capacity by regulating cellular physiological and molecular mechanisms. Drought stress causes water loss, affecting photosynthesis and cell expansion; salt stress leads to ionic imbalance and disrupts normal cellular metabolism; and low-temperature stress can damage cell membranes and inhibit growth. To cope with these stresses, plants activate antioxidant systems, regulate osmotic pressure, and enhance ion transport to maintain cellular stability and metabolic functions. Improving plant tolerance under these stress conditions remains a major challenge in agricultural production and an important research direction in plant biotechnology.

The PLATZ transcription factor family plays important roles in plant growth, development, and stress responses. PLATZ transcription factors help plants adapt to environmental changes by regulating the expression of genes associated with growth, development, and stress responses. For example, PLATZ transcription factors can regulate plant stress-response mechanisms under drought and salinity, thereby enhancing plant survival. Although the PLATZ family has been studied in several model plants, such as Arabidopsis and rice, its functions in bamboo species such as moso bamboo remain largely unexplored.

As an economically important crop, the molecular mechanisms underlying stress tolerance in moso bamboo have not yet been fully elucidated. In particular, relatively little is known about the function of the PLATZ transcription factor PhePLATZ8 in moso bamboo. The authors aimed to characterize the specific functions of PhePLATZ8 and determine how it contributes to plant stress responses, particularly tolerance to environmental stresses such as drought and salinity.

Multiple approaches were employed to investigate the function of PhePLATZ8 in moso bamboo. PhePLATZ8 was identified through gene cloning, and its expression patterns in different tissues and under various abiotic stress conditions were analyzed using qPCR. PhePLATZ8-overexpressing and RNA interference moso bamboo plants were generated to further evaluate its roles in growth and development and in responses to drought and salt stress. The results showed that PhePLATZ8 expression was significantly higher in leaves than in other tissues and was significantly upregulated under drought and salt stress. Overexpression plants exhibited faster growth and enhanced stress tolerance, characterized by lower electrolyte leakage and reduced reactive oxygen species accumulation, whereas RNA interference plants showed inhibited growth and reduced stress tolerance under stress conditions. RNA-seq analysis revealed that PhePLATZ8 regulates multiple genes associated with antioxidant defense, stress responses, and osmotic regulation. These findings indicate that PhePLATZ8 positively contributes to stress tolerance in moso bamboo by regulating a network of stress-responsive genes.

Experiments using PlantView

To determine whether PhePLATZ8 regulates gene expression by binding to and activating the promoters of PheGRF genes, the researchers conducted luciferase reporter assays. The promoter regions of four PheGRF genes were cloned into reporter vectors and co-transformed with a PhePLATZ8 expression vector into plant protoplasts or tobacco leaves. Leaf images were acquired using the PlantView Plant In Vivo Imaging System from Guangzhou Biolight Biotechnology. The results showed that PhePLATZ8 significantly enhanced luciferase activity, indicating that it directly binds to and activates the promoters of the four PheGRF genes, thereby increasing their expression levels. These findings demonstrate that PhePLATZ8 plays a key role in moso bamboo by regulating the PheGRF gene network, providing molecular evidence for its functions in growth and abiotic stress responses.

DOI: org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2024.119334