Constitutive expression of a soybean HD-Zip I transcription factor enhances drought tolerance in Arabidopsis

ALFONSO BELLONI, YANINA; GAIDO, JIMENA; JAIME CAMILA; VEGETTI, ABELARDO; DUNGER, GERMÁN; DEZAR CARLOS

Rosario

Congreso; XXXIV Argentinian Meeting of Plant Physiology; 2023

Drought causes significant crop yield losses worldwide. Despite the significant progress using model transgenic plants, the crop technology available nowadays is not sufficient for farmers for increasing or maintaining soybean yields under low rainfall conditions. The plant proteins belonging to the transcription factors family HD-Zip I have been proposed as key players in specific plant developmental processes, such as those associated with external stimuli and stresses. We focus here on a Glycine max gene that encodes a transcription factor that has been shown to change its expression in drought conditions. Our findings with this transcription factor introduced into Arabidopsis thaliana reproduce the previously reported phenotypic characteristics observed in Arabidopsis plants transformed with other transcription factors of this family. Compared to the non-transgenic control plants, transgenic plants showed a higher recovery rate after a period of water deprivation, similar water loss, and delayed senescence. Furthermore, we found changes in the expression patterns of genes in Arabidopsis transgenic plants which would help to elucidate its role in the development of tolerance to environmental stresses.Based on these results, we propose that this soybean transcription factor could be a useful biotechnological tool to cope with water stress in a wide range of situations, especially in rainfed environments with low yield performance due to drought.