Hormone response complex in a novel abscisic acid and cycloheximide-inducible barley gene.

The phytohormone, abscisic acid (ABA), plays a variety of roles during seed development and in the plant's response to environmental stresses. To study the molecular action of ABA, we have isolated a single copy ABA-induced gene, HVA22, which is mapped to barley chromosome 1. The HVA22 gene can be induced by either ABA or the protein synthesis inhibitor, cycloheximide, and addition of both inducers to barley aleurone layers has a synergistic effect on the expression of this gene. Sequence comparison indicates that the HVA22 gene product is highly homologous to the product of human DP1 gene, which is likely to contribute to colorectal tumorigenesis. The hormonal regulation of HVA22 expression has been studied, and there appear to be at least three elements, two located in the promoter and one in the first intron, which are essential for the high level of ABA induction of HVA22 expression. Among the promoter elements is a homolog of ABA response element, which has been shown to be important in the expression of other ABA-induced genes in plants. We suggest that the barley HVA22 gene product is likely a regulatory protein, and the ABA induction of this gene requires the action of a complex set of hormone response elements.