Jiang Nan, Liao Shixian, Wang Ruiqi, Yao Wenjing, Wang Yuting, Qu Guanzheng, Jiang Tingbo
State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China.
Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, 159 Longpan Road, Nanjing 210037, China.
Plants (Basel). 2025 Sep 6;14(17):2800. doi: 10.3390/plants14172800.
ERF family transcription factors are crucial regulators in plants, playing a central role in abiotic stress responses and serving as important targets for stress-tolerant crop breeding. × , an elite hybrid poplar cultivar artificially selected in northern China, holds significant research value encompassing ecological restoration, economic industries, genetic resource development, and environmental adaptability. This study identified that expression was significantly upregulated in × response to salt treatment. Furthermore, transgenic poplar lines overexpressing () were generated. Salt stress assays demonstrated that overexpression significantly enhanced salt tolerance in transgenic poplar. Compared to wild-type (WT) plants, -OE lines exhibited a significant enhancement in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, with increases of 2.3-fold, 1.2-fold, and 0.5-fold for superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT), respectively, while the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and hydrogen peroxide (HO) were markedly reduced by 39.89% and 40.03%, indicating significantly enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging capacity and reduced oxidative damage. Concurrently, overexpression reduced the natural leaf relative water loss (%). Meanwhile, yeast one-hybrid assays confirmed that the protein specifically binds to GCC-box and DRE cis-acting elements. This study established as a positive regulator of salt stress responses, highlighting its potential as a target gene for improving plant tolerance to high salinity, providing a promising candidate gene for the molecular breeding of salt-tolerant crops.
ERF家族转录因子是植物中的关键调节因子，在非生物胁迫响应中起核心作用，是耐逆作物育种的重要靶点。×是中国北方人工选育的优良杂交杨树品种，在生态修复、经济产业、遗传资源开发和环境适应性等方面具有重要研究价值。本研究发现，在×中，盐处理显著上调了的表达。此外，构建了过表达的转基因杨树株系。盐胁迫试验表明，过表达显著增强了转基因杨树的耐盐性。与野生型（WT）植株相比，-OE株系的抗氧化酶活性显著增强，超氧化物歧化酶（SOD）、过氧化物酶（POD）和过氧化氢酶（CAT）的活性分别提高了2.3倍、1.2倍和0.5倍，而丙二醛（MDA）和过氧化氢（HO）水平显著降低了39.89%和40.03%，表明活性氧（ROS）清除能力显著增强，氧化损伤减少。同时，过表达降低了自然叶片相对失水率（%）。此外，酵母单杂交试验证实，蛋白特异性结合GCC-box和DRE顺式作用元件。本研究确定为盐胁迫响应的正调控因子，突出了其作为提高植物耐高盐性靶基因的潜力，为耐盐作物分子育种提供了一个有前景的候选基因。
