Vaseva Irina I, Balzhyk Heorhii, Trailova Maria, Nikolova Tsvetina, Katerova Zornitsa, Galabova Simona, Todorova Dessislava, Sergiev Iskren, Vassileva Valya
Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. Georgi Bonchev Street, Bldg. 21, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Apr 27;26(9):4148. doi: 10.3390/ijms26094148.
Dehydrins are stress-inducible proteins with protective functions, characterized by high hydrophilicity, thermostability, and a low degree of secondary structure. They stabilize cellular membranes, preserve macromolecule conformation, and support enzymatic and structural protein functions. Their accumulation in plant tissues under drought is regulated by abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent and ABA-independent pathways. Ethylene plays a key role in stress adaptation, but its relationship with dehydrin accumulation remains unclear. This study investigates how ethylene influences dehydrin expression in during prolonged dehydration using transcript profiling and immunodetection in wild-type (Col-0), ethylene-constitutive (), and ethylene-insensitive () mutants. Comparative analyses showed increased survival of plants under dehydration stress, likely due to reduced oxidative damage. Analysis of dehydrin-coding genes identified multiple Ethylene Response Factor (ERF) binding sites, flanking the transcription start sites, which suggests a fine-tuned ethylene-dependent regulation. The ability of ethylene signaling to either suppress or stabilize particular dehydrins was demonstrated by RT-qPCR and immunodetection experiments. Under drought stress, ethylene signaling appeared to suppress root-specific dehydrins. A Y-segment-containing protein with approximate molecular weight of 20 kDa showed decreased levels in and higher accumulation in , indicating that ethylene signaling acts as a negative regulator. These results provide new information on the dual role of ethylene in dehydrin control, highlighting its function as a molecular switch in stress adaptive responses.
脱水素是具有保护功能的应激诱导蛋白，其特点是亲水性高、热稳定性好且二级结构程度低。它们能稳定细胞膜、维持大分子构象，并支持酶和结构蛋白的功能。它们在植物组织中干旱条件下的积累受脱落酸（ABA）依赖和ABA非依赖途径调控。乙烯在应激适应中起关键作用，但其与脱水素积累的关系仍不清楚。本研究利用野生型（Col-0）、组成型乙烯（）和乙烯不敏感（）突变体的转录谱分析和免疫检测，研究了乙烯在长时间脱水过程中如何影响脱水素的表达。比较分析表明，植物在脱水胁迫下的存活率提高，可能是由于氧化损伤减少。对脱水素编码基因的分析确定了多个位于转录起始位点侧翼的乙烯反应因子（ERF）结合位点，这表明存在精细调节的乙烯依赖性调控。RT-qPCR和免疫检测实验证明了乙烯信号传导抑制或稳定特定脱水素的能力。在干旱胁迫下，乙烯信号传导似乎抑制根特异性脱水素。一种分子量约为20 kDa的含Y片段蛋白在中水平降低，在中积累增加，表明乙烯信号传导起负调控作用。这些结果为乙烯在脱水素调控中的双重作用提供了新信息，突出了其在应激适应性反应中作为分子开关的功能。
