The maize transcription factor EREB58 mediates the jasmonate‐induced production of sesquiterpene volatiles. (October 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Shengyan; Wang, Hai; Li, Fengqi; Chen, Zhongliang; Li, Xiuying; Zhu, Li; Wang, Guirong; Yu, Jingjuan; Huang, Dafang; Lang, Zhihong
• Is Part Of: Plant journal. Volume 84:Number 2(2015:Oct.)
• Page Start: 296
• Page End: 308
• Publication Date: 2015-10
• Subjects: Plant molecular biology -- Periodicals; Plant cells and tissues -- Periodicals; Botany -- Periodicals; 580
• DOI: 10.1111/tpj.12994
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-7412

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="tpj12994-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <p>Over the past two decades, <italic>Zea mays</italic> (maize) has been established as a model system for the study of indirect plant defense against herbivores. When attacked by lepidopteran larvae, maize leaves emit a complex blend of volatiles, mainly composed of sesquiterpenes, to attract the natural enemies of the herbivores. This is associated with a swift transcriptional induction of terpene synthases such as <italic>TPS10</italic>; however, the molecular components controlling the complex transcriptional reprogramming in this process are still obscure. Here, by exploiting the finding that the maize <italic>TPS10</italic> promoter retained its full responsiveness to herbivory in Arabidopsis, we identified the region from −300 to −200 of the <italic>TPS10</italic> promoter as both necessary and sufficient for its herbivore inducibility through 5′ deletion mapping. A high‐throughput screening of an Arabidopsis transcription factor library using this promoter region as the bait identified seven AP2/ERF family transcription factors. Among their close homologs in maize, <italic>EREB58</italic> was the only gene responsive to herbivory, with a spatiotemporal expression pattern highly similar to that of <italic>TPS10</italic>. Meanwhile, <italic>EREB58</italic> was also responsive to Jasmonate. <italic>In vivo</italic> and <italic>in vitro</italic> assays indicated that <italic>EREB58</italic> promotes <italic>TPS10</italic> expression by directly binding to the GCC‐box within the region from −300 to −200 of the <italic>TPS10</italic> promoter. Transgenic maize plants overexpressing <italic>EREB58</italic> constitutively over‐accumulate <italic>TPS10</italic> transcript, and also <italic>(E)</italic>‐β‐farnesene and <italic>(E)</italic>‐α‐bergamotene, two major sesquiterpenes produced by TPS10. In contrast, jasmonate induction of <italic>TPS10</italic> and its volatiles was abolished in <italic>EREB58‐RNAi</italic> transgenic lines. In sum, these results demonstrate that <italic>EREB58</italic> is a positive regulator of sesquiterpene production by directly promoting <italic>TPS10</italic> expression.</p> </abstract>