The barley SHN1-type transcription factor HvSHN1 imparts heat, drought and salt tolerances in transgenic tobacco

The APETAL2/Ethylene Responsive Factor (AP2/ERF) family was the subject of intensive research which led to the identification of several members involved in different stress responses such as salinity, drought and high temperature. The SHN/WIN clade of AP2/ERF participates in many important processes such as cutin and wax biosynthesis, ethylene signaling and gene expression. Here, we report the functional analysis of SHN1-type transcription factor, HvSHN1, from barely. The overexpression of HvSHN1 under the control of the duplicated 35S promoter in transgenic tobacco plants improved tolerance to salt, water stress and heat stress. Transgenic lines exhibited altered permeability of the cuticle and decreased stomatal density. Under heat stress, HvSHN1 transgenic lines exhibited higher superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity and lower MDA and H2O2 contents than did WT. The overexpression of HvSHN1 upregulated different genes involved in osmotic stress, oxidative stress, sugar metabolism, and wax biosynthesis. To understand the involvement of HvSHN1 in heat stress tolerance, promoter regions of two tobacco genes homologous to Arabidopsis genes HSP90.1 and RAP2.6 were analyzed and DRE cis-elements; binding sites of HvSHN1, were found. Interaction network of HvSHN1, predicted using STRING software, contained proteins with predicted functions related to lipids metabolism and a gene encoding Cyclin-Dependent Kinase. These results suggest that HvSHN1 is an interesting candidate for the improvement of abiotic stress tolerance especially in the context of climate change.