Qian Yuchen, Zhang Tongyao, Yu Yan, Gou Liangpeng, Yang Jingting, Xu Jia, Pi Erxu
College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2021 Jun 18;12:677611. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.677611. eCollection 2021.
Basic helix-loop-helix proteins (bHLHs) comprise one of the largest families of transcription factors in plants. They have been shown to be involved in responses to various abiotic stresses, such as drought, salinity, chilling, heavy metal toxicity, iron deficiency, and osmotic damages. By specifically binding to -elements in the promoter region of stress related genes, bHLHs can regulate their transcriptional expression, thereby regulating the plant's adaptive responses. This review focuses on the structural characteristics of bHLHs, the regulatory mechanism of how bHLHs are involved transcriptional activation, and the mechanism of how bHLHs regulate the transcription of target genes under various stresses. Finally, as increasing research demonstrates that flavonoids are usually induced under fluctuating environments, the latest research progress and future research prospects are described on the mechanisms of how flavonoid biosynthesis is regulated by bHLHs in the regulation of the plant's responses to abiotic stresses.
碱性螺旋-环-螺旋蛋白（bHLHs）是植物中最大的转录因子家族之一。研究表明，它们参与植物对各种非生物胁迫的响应，如干旱、盐度、低温、重金属毒性、缺铁和渗透损伤。通过特异性结合胁迫相关基因启动子区域的元件，bHLHs可以调节其转录表达，从而调控植物的适应性反应。本文综述了bHLHs的结构特征、参与转录激活的调控机制，以及在各种胁迫下bHLHs调控靶基因转录的机制。最后，鉴于越来越多的研究表明类黄酮通常在环境波动下被诱导产生，本文还描述了bHLHs在调控植物对非生物胁迫响应过程中调控类黄酮生物合成机制的最新研究进展和未来研究前景。
