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Published on October 17, 2008; 10.1104/pp.108.128199

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Received August 18, 2008
Accepted October 15, 2008

Characterization of OsbZIP23 as a key player of bZIP transcription factor family for conferring ABA sensitivity and salinity and drought tolerance in rice

Yong Xiang , Ning Tang , Hao Du , Haiyan Ye , and Lizhong Xiong *

National Center of Plant Gene Research (Wuhan), National Key Laboratory of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

* Corresponding author; email: lizhongx{at}mail.hzau.edu.cn.

OsbZIP23 is a member of bZIP transcription factor family in rice. Expression of OsbZIP23 is strongly induced by a wide spectrum of stresses including drought, salt, abscisic acid (ABA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) treatments, while other stress-responsive genes of this family are slightly induced only by one or two of the stresses. Transactivation assay in yeast demonstrated that OsbZIP23 functions as a transcriptional activator and the sequences at N-terminus (AA 1-59) and a region close to C-terminus (AA 210-240) are required for the transactivation activity. Transient expression of OsbZIP23-GFP in onion cells revealed a nuclear localization of the protein. Transgenic rice over-expressing OsbZIP23 showed significantly improved tolerance to drought and high-salinity stresses and sensitivity to ABA. On the other hand, a null mutant of this gene showed significantly decreased sensitivity to high concentration of ABA and decreased tolerance to high salinity and drought stress, and this phenotype can be complemented by transforming the OsbZIP23 back into the mutant. Gene chip and real-time PCR analyses revealed that hundreds of genes were up- or down-regulated in the rice plants over-expressing OsbZIP23. More than half of these genes have been annotated or evidenced for their diverse functions in stress response or tolerance. In addition, more than 30 genes that are possible OsbZIP23-specific target genes were identified based on the comparison of the expression profiles in the overexpressor and the mutant of OsbZIP23. Collectively, these results indicate that OsbZIP23 functions as a transcriptional regulator that can regulate the expressions of a wide spectrum of stress-related genes in response to abiotic stresses through an ABA-dependent regulation pathway. We propose that OsbZIP23 is a major player of the bZIP family in rice for conferring ABA-dependent drought and salinity tolerance and has highly potential usefulness in genetic improvement of stress tolerance.






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