• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1597-1606
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• 2020

Transcription factor engineering to regulate multiple genes has shown promise in the field of microalgae genetic engineering. Here, we report the first use of transcription factor engineering in Chlorella sp. HS2, thought to have potential for producing biofuels and bioproducts. We identified seven endogenous bZIP transcription factors in Chlorella sp. HS2 and named them HSbZIP1 through HSbZIP7. We overexpressed HSbZIP1, a C-type bZIP transcription factor, in Chlorella sp. HS2 with the goal of enhancing lipid production. Phenotype screening under heterotrophic conditions showed that all transformants exhibited increased fatty acid production. In particular, HSbZIP1 37 and 58 showed fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) yields of 859 and 1,052 mg/l, respectively, at day 10 of growth under heterotrophic conditions, and these yields were 74% and 113% higher, respectively, than that of WT. To elucidate the mechanism underlying the improved phenotypes, we identified candidate HSbZIP1-regulated genes via transcription factor binding site analysis. We then selected three genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and investigated mRNA expression levels of the genes by qRT-PCR. The result revealed that the possible HSbZIP1-regulated genes involved in fatty acid synthesis were upregulated in the HSbZIP1 transformants. Taken together, our results demonstrate that HSbZIP1 can be utilized to improve lipid production in Chlorella sp. HS2 under heterotrophic conditions.

• BMB Reports
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.132-138
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• 2008

AtbZIP16 and AtbZIP68 are two putative G group bZIP transcription factors in Arabidopsis thaliana, the other three members of G group bZIPs are GBF1-3 which can bind G-box. Members of G group have conservative protein structure: highly homological basic region and a proline-rich domain in the N-terminal region. Here, we report that AtbZIP16 and AtbZIP68 could bind cis elements with ACGT core, such as G-box, Hex, C-box and As-1, but with different binding affinities which from high to low were G-box > Hex > C-box > As-1; AtbZIP16 and AtbZIP68 could form homodimer and form heterodimer with other members of G group; N-terminal proline rich domain of AtbZIP16 had transactivation activity in yeast cells while that of AtbZIP68 did not; AtbZIP16 and AtbZIP68 GFP fusion protein localized in the nucleus of onion epidermal cells. These results indicated that AtbZIP16 and AtbZIP68 were two new members of GBFs. In Arabidopsis, AtbZIP16 and AtbZIP68 may also participate in light-responsive process in which GBF1-3 are involved.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.160-160
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• 2017

Drought stress is a major constraint of crop development and productivity. Plants have evolutionally developed several mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, and physiological levels to overcome drought stress. The basic Leucine zipper (bZIP) transcription factor (TF) family members are starting to be concerned about their roles in drought stress responses. In this study, we functionally characterized OsbZIP66, a rice group-E bZIP TF, to be associated with rice drought tolerance mechanisms. Expression of OsbZIP66 was significantly induced upon treatments of rice plants with drought, high salinity, and ABA. These observations and the fact that the OsbZIP66 promoter contains ten ABA-responsive elements suggest that OsbZIP66 is up-regulated by drought stress in an ABA-dependent manner. Overexpression of both OsbZIP66 in a whole plant body and specifically in roots enhanced drought tolerance of rice plants, indicating that the rice drought tolerance positively correlates with the expression levels of OsbZIP66. Thus, our results demonstrated that OsbZIP66 has a potential for use in biotechnological development of high-yielding rice plants under drought conditions.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.103 no.2
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• pp.189-195
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• 2014

Basic leucine zipper (bZIP) protein is a regulatory transcription factor that plays crucial roles in growth, development and stress response of plant. In this study, we isolated a PagbZIP1 gene that belonged to Group SE3 of bZIP from Populus alba ${\times}$ P. glandulosa, and investigated its expressional characteristics. The PagbZIP1 is 844 base pairs long and encodes a putative 144-amino-acid protein with an expected molecular mass of 16.6 kDa. The PagbZIP1 has two conserved domains including the basic and leucine zipper portions. Southern blot analysis revealed that two copies of the gene are presented in the poplar genome. PagbZIP1 was specifically expressed in the root and suspension cells. Moreover, the expression of PagbZIP1 was induced by drought, salt, cold and ABA. Therefore, our results indicated that PagbZIP1 might be expressed in response to abiotic stress through the ABA-mediated signaling pathway in poplar.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.571-577
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• 2017

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important phytohormone involved in abiotic stress tolerance in plants. The group A bZIP transcription factors play important roles in the ABA signaling pathway in Arabidopsis but little is known about their functions in rice. In our current study, we have isolated and characterized a group A bZIP transcription factor in rice, OsABF3 (Oryza sativa ABA responsive element binding factor 3). We examined the expression patterns of OsABF3 in various tissues and time course analysis after abiotic stress treatments such as drought, salinity, cold, oxidative stress, and ABA in rice. Subcellular localization analysis in maize protoplasts using a GFP fusion vector further indicated that OsABF3 is a nuclear protein. Moreover, in a yeast one-hybrid experiment, OsABF3 was shown to bind to ABA responsive elements (ABREs) and its N-terminal region found to be necessary to transactivate a downstream reporter. A homozygous T-DNA insertional mutant of OsABF3 is more sensitive to salinity, drought, and oxidative stress compared with wild type plants ＆ OsABF3OX plants. In addition, this Osabf3 mutant showed a significantly decreased sensitivity to high levels of ABA at germination and post-germination. Collectively, our present results indicate that OsABF3 functions as a transcriptional regulator that modulates the expression of abiotic stress-responsive genes through an ABA-dependent pathway.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.11
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• pp.1515-1522
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• 2012

The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays an important role in the adaptive response of plants to abiotic stresses. ABA also regulates many important processes, including seed dormancy, germination, inhibition of cell division, and stomatal closure. OsABF2 (Oryza sativa ABRE binding factor2) is one of the bZIP type transcription factors, which are involved in abiotic stress response and ABA signaling in rice. Expression of OsABF2 is induced by ABA and various stress treatments. Findings show that survival rates of OsABF2 over-expressing Arabidopsis lines were increased under drought, salt, and heat stress conditions. The germination ratio of OsABF2 over-expressing Arabidopsis lines was decreased in the presence of ABA. Results indicate that OsABF2 over-expressing Arabidopsis lines have enhanced abiotic stress tolerance and have increased ABA sensitivity.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.263-281
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• 2014

Transcription factors are essential for the regulation of gene expression in plant. They are binding to either enhancer or promoter region of DNA adjacent to the gene and are related to basal transcription regulation, differential enhancement of transcription, development, response to intercellular signals or environment, and cell cycle control. The mechanism in controlling gene expression of transcription can be understood through the assessment of the complete sequence for the maize genome. It is possible that the maize genome encodes 4,000 or more transcription factors because it has undergone whole duplication in the past. Previously, several transcription factors of maize have been characterized. In this review article, the transcription factors were selected using Pfam database, including many family members in comparison with other family and listed as follows: ABI3/VP1, AP2/EREBP, ARF, ARID, AS2, AUX/IAA, BES1, bHLH, bZIP, C2C2-CO-like, C2C2-Dof, C2C2-GATA, C2C2-YABBY, C2H2, E2F/DP, FHA, GARP-ARR-B, GeBP, GRAS, HMG, HSF, MADS, MYB, MYB-related, NAC, PHD, and WRKY family. For analyzing motifs, each amino acid sequence has been aligned with ClustalW and the conserved sequence was shown by sequence logo. This review article will contribute to further study of molecular biological analysis and breeding using the transcription factor of maize as a strategy for selecting target gene.

• 한국균학회소식:학술대회논문집
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• 2016.05a
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• pp.27-27
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• 2016

The ascomycete fungus Fusarium graminearum is the most common pathogen of Fusarium head blight (FHB), a devastating disease for major cereal crops worldwide. FHB causes significant crop losses by reducing grain yield and quality as well as contaminating cereals with trichothecenes and zearalenone (ZEA) that pose a serious threat to animal health and food safety. ZEA is a causative agent of hyperestrogenic syndrome in mammals and can result in reproductive disorders in farm animals. In F. graminearum, the ZEA biosynthetic cluster is composed of four genes, PKS4, PKS13, ZEB1, and ZEB2, which encode a reducing polyketide synthase, a nonreducing polyketide synthase, an isoamyl alcohol oxidase, and a transcription factor, respectively. Although it is known that ZEB2 primarily acts as a regulator of ZEA biosynthetic cluster genes, the mechanism underlying this regulation remains undetermined. In this study, two isoforms (ZEB2L and ZEB2S) from the ZEB2 gene in F. graminearum were characterized. It was revealed that ZEB2L contains a basic leucine zipper (bZIP) DNA-binding domain at the N-terminus, whereas ZEB2S is an N-terminally truncated form of ZEB2L that lacks the bZIP domain. Interestingly, ZEA triggered the induction of both ZEB2L and ZEB2S transcription. In ZEA producing condition, the expression of ZEB2S transcripts via alternative promoter usage was directly or indirectly initiated by ZEA. Physical interaction between ZEB2L and ZEB2L as well as between ZEB2L and ZEB2S was observed in the nucleus. The ZEB2S-ZEB2S interaction was detected in both the cytosol and the nucleus. ZEB2L-ZEB2L oligomers activated ZEA biosynthetic cluster genes, including ZEB2L. ZEB2S inhibited ZEB2L transcription by forming ZEB2L-ZEB2S heterodimers, which reduced the DNA-binding activity of ZEB2L. This study provides insight into the autoregulation of ZEB2 expression by alternative promoter usage and a feedback loop during ZEA production.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.493-502
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• 2019

Maize (Zea mays L.) is a C4-plant and one of the three major crops grown worldwide. Because of its high productivity, maize is considered as one of the most important food and feed stocks in the world. Recently, bioethanol from maize was predominantly generated in the USA and Brazil. Infection of maize by several diseases resulted in a huge disaster and prevented maize production. Downy mildew, caused by Peronosclerospora sorghi, is one of the most serious diseases of maize. Despite efforts to develop downy mildew-resistant cultivars or seed treatment with metalaxyl, downy mildew persists as a serious pathogen and is still prevalent in specific geographical locations. Analysis of soils infected with downy mildew and investigation of candidates associated with downy mildew resistance is an attractive method to overcome downy mildew damage in maize. In a previous study, we reported that maize chromosome 6 carries a possible candidate gene for downy mildew resistance. Using bioinformatics tools and RT-PCR analysis, five novel genes including bZIP, OFP transcription factor, and Ppr were identified as candidate genes associated with downy mildew resistance.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.473-480
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• 2015

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) in the eukaryotic cells is the first compartment in the secretory pathway. Almost secretory proteins and membrane proteins are secreted through the ER, in which post-translational modifications occur via diverse signals from the ER lumen to the cytoplasm and nucleus. Only then are correctly-folded proteins secreted to the outside cells. Unfolded proteins that accumulate in the ER cause a kind of intracellular stress, ER stress, and activate an unfolded protein response (UPR) system. The 3 major transducers of the UPR are inositol requiring 1 (IRE1), PKR-like ER kinase (PERK) and activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6), all of which are ER transmembrane proteins. Recently, novel types of a new ATF6 family have been identified. Those commonly have an ER-transmembrane domain, a transcription-activation domain and a basic leucine zipper (bZIP) domain―Luman, OASIS, BBF2H7, CREBH and CREB4. Each factor functions by regulating the UPR in specific organs and tissues. Although the detailed molecular mechanisms of OASIS family members are unknown, in this study we comprehensively introduce these molecular signals.