Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice
Abstract Background The HD-Zip family of plant-specific transcription factors coordinates developmental processes and abiotic stress adaptation, including drought tolerance in bioenergy crops such as physic nut. Although HD-Zip proteins are known regulators of stress responses, the functional roles...
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BMC
2025-04-01
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| Series: | BMC Genomics |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11566-1 |
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| author | Yuehui Tang Xiaohui Wang Yaoyao Wang Jiatong Xie Ruoyu Zhang Tengfei Liu Sainan Jia Xinxin Bao |
| author_facet | Yuehui Tang Xiaohui Wang Yaoyao Wang Jiatong Xie Ruoyu Zhang Tengfei Liu Sainan Jia Xinxin Bao |
| author_sort | Yuehui Tang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The HD-Zip family of plant-specific transcription factors coordinates developmental processes and abiotic stress adaptation, including drought tolerance in bioenergy crops such as physic nut. Although HD-Zip proteins are known regulators of stress responses, the functional roles of physic nut HD-Zip genes in drought adaptation remain uncharacterized. Results In this study, we functionally characterized JcHDZ25, a drought-inducible HD-Zip I gene from physic nut, which is predominantly expressed in roots and upregulated by ABA and drought. Subcellular localization and transcriptional activity assays confirmed that JcHDZ25 localized to the nucleus and exhibited intrinsic transcriptional activation. Transgenic rice overexpressing JcHDZ25 displayed enhanced drought tolerance and ABA sensitivity compared to wild-type plants. Under drought stress, JcHDZ25-overexpressing lines showed significantly higher proline content, elevated SOD and CAT activities, and reduced electrolyte leakage and MDA accumulation relative to wild-type controls. Furthermore, transgenic plants showed higher expression of abiotic stress-responsive genes (OsAPX2, OsCATA, OsLEA3, OsP5 CS, OsDREB2 A, OsADC1) and ABA pathway-related genes (OsNCED3, OsRD29 A) under drought stress compared to wild-type plants. Conclusions JcHDZ25 positively regulates drought tolerance in rice possibly through an ABA-dependent transcriptional regulation, providing mechanistic insights into physic nut’s drought adaptation and highlighting its potential as a genetic resource for engineering stress-resilient crops. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6ff6329573f64129a9e59e1bf2dd5ec9 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1471-2164 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
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| series | BMC Genomics |
| spelling | doaj-art-6ff6329573f64129a9e59e1bf2dd5ec92025-08-20T03:06:54ZengBMCBMC Genomics1471-21642025-04-0126111310.1186/s12864-025-11566-1Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic riceYuehui Tang0Xiaohui Wang1Yaoyao Wang2Jiatong Xie3Ruoyu Zhang4Tengfei Liu5Sainan Jia6Xinxin Bao7College of Life Science and Agronomy, Zhoukou Normal UniversityCollege of Life Science and Agronomy, Zhoukou Normal UniversityCollege of Life Science and Agronomy, Zhoukou Normal UniversityState Key Laboratary of Crop Stress Adaptation and Improvement, Henan UniversityCollege of Life Science and Agronomy, Zhoukou Normal UniversityCollege of Life Science and Agronomy, Zhoukou Normal UniversityCollege of Life Science and Agronomy, Zhoukou Normal UniversitySchool of Journalism and Communication, Zhoukou Normal UniversityAbstract Background The HD-Zip family of plant-specific transcription factors coordinates developmental processes and abiotic stress adaptation, including drought tolerance in bioenergy crops such as physic nut. Although HD-Zip proteins are known regulators of stress responses, the functional roles of physic nut HD-Zip genes in drought adaptation remain uncharacterized. Results In this study, we functionally characterized JcHDZ25, a drought-inducible HD-Zip I gene from physic nut, which is predominantly expressed in roots and upregulated by ABA and drought. Subcellular localization and transcriptional activity assays confirmed that JcHDZ25 localized to the nucleus and exhibited intrinsic transcriptional activation. Transgenic rice overexpressing JcHDZ25 displayed enhanced drought tolerance and ABA sensitivity compared to wild-type plants. Under drought stress, JcHDZ25-overexpressing lines showed significantly higher proline content, elevated SOD and CAT activities, and reduced electrolyte leakage and MDA accumulation relative to wild-type controls. Furthermore, transgenic plants showed higher expression of abiotic stress-responsive genes (OsAPX2, OsCATA, OsLEA3, OsP5 CS, OsDREB2 A, OsADC1) and ABA pathway-related genes (OsNCED3, OsRD29 A) under drought stress compared to wild-type plants. Conclusions JcHDZ25 positively regulates drought tolerance in rice possibly through an ABA-dependent transcriptional regulation, providing mechanistic insights into physic nut’s drought adaptation and highlighting its potential as a genetic resource for engineering stress-resilient crops.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11566-1HD-ZipJcHDZ25Drought stressPhysic nutABA |
| spellingShingle | Yuehui Tang Xiaohui Wang Yaoyao Wang Jiatong Xie Ruoyu Zhang Tengfei Liu Sainan Jia Xinxin Bao Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice BMC Genomics HD-Zip JcHDZ25 Drought stress Physic nut ABA |
| title | Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice |
| title_full | Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice |
| title_fullStr | Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice |
| title_short | Heterologous expression of physic nut JcHDZ25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice |
| title_sort | heterologous expression of physic nut jchdz25 confers tolerance to drought stress in transgenic rice |
| topic | HD-Zip JcHDZ25 Drought stress Physic nut ABA |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11566-1 |
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