Suppression of Arabidopsis RING E3 ubiquitin ligase AtATL78 increases tolerance to cold stress and decreases tolerance to drought stress

Abstract

AtATL78 is an Arabidopsis RING E3 ubiquitin ligase. RT-PCR and promoter-GUS assays revealed that AtATL78 was up-regulated by cold stress and down-regulated by drought. AtATL78 was localized at the plasma-membrane. Suppression of AtATL78 increased tolerance to cold stress but decreased tolerance to drought. Our data suggests that AtATL78 is a negative regulator of cold stress response and a positive regulator of drought stress response in Arabidopsis. These results further suggest that AtATL78 plays opposing roles in cold and drought stress responses.

Keywords: 3,3′-diaminobenzidine; ABA; ATL; ATL RING E3 Ub ligase; Arabidopsis; Arabidopsis Tóxicos en Levadura; Arabidopsis thaliana ABA-insensitive RING protein; Arabidopsis thaliana RING domain-of-unknown-function; AtAIRP; AtRDUF; C-repeat (CRT)-binding factor; CBF; CRWL; Cold response; DAB; Drought response; HECT; HOS1; ICE1; Loss-of-function mutant; RD29; RING; RNAi knock-down line; ROS; Ub; abscisic acid; cut rosette water loss; high expression of osmotically responsive gene 1; inducer of CBF expression 1; reactive oxygen species; really interesting new gene; responsive to dehydration 29A; sGFP; soluble green fluorescent protein; the homologous to E6-AP carboxyl terminus; ubiquitin.