The wheat (Triticum aestiveum L.) MADS-box transcription factor TaMADS32 plays a role in response to abiotic stresses

Xuemei Zhang,Ting Li,Huangxin Chen,Huaping Tang,Yang Mu,Lulu Gou,Ahsan Habib,Xiujin Lan&Jian Ma

Abstract

The MADS-box transcription factor family plays an important role in regulating growth and signal transduction in animals and plants.TaMADS32encodes a type II MADS-box transcription factor which is mainly expressed in wheat root system. In this study, we used bioinformatics methods to analyseTaMADS32, and investigate its function in plant root development and response to various abiotic stresses. We mappedTaMADS32on chromosome 2B of wheat. BothTaMADS32and its orthologs contained 7 exons and 6 introns and all the orthologous proteins have the MADS domains. Prokaryotic experiments showed that TaMADS32 could be expressed in prokaryotic cells. The predicted subcellular localization of TaMADS32 in plant cells was in the nucleus and in the cell membrane. Abiotic stresses (drought, heat and cold) can alter the expression ofTaMADS32in transgenicArabidopsis. Phenotypic analysis showed that overexpression ofTaMADS32enhanced the tolerance ofArabidopsisto abiotic stresses. These results indicate thatTaMADS32is probably involved in the adaptation of plants to abiotic stress environments.