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APETALA 2 transcription factor CBX1 is a regulator of mycorrhizal symbiosis and growth of Lotus japonicus

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Abstract

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An AP2 family gene CBX1 is involved in mycorrhizal symbiosis and growth of Lotus japonicus.

Abstract

APETALA 2 (AP2) transcriptional regulator is highly conserved in plants. CBX1 from Lotus japonicus is a member of AP2 family. AMF (Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi) inoculation experiment demonstrated that expression of CBX1 was significantly induced by AMF. Further promoter analysis showed that the – 764 to − 498 bp region of the CBX1 promoter containing CTTC motif is the AMF responsive region. Functional analysis of cbx1 mutant suggested CBX1 is critical for mycorrhizal symbiosis, especially for arbuscule formation. Moreover, under noncolonized condition, overexpression of CBX1 reduced the root length of L. japonicus but increased the size of root system and shoot length, whereas cbx1 mutant reduced the root size and shoot length, but not effect on root length. In addition, cbx1 altered activity of monolignol biosynthetic gene and increased lignin levels. Collectively, these data indicated that CBX1 is a positive regulator of symbiotic activity and plays roles in the growth of L. japonicus.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870415), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2018M632520) and Graduate Innovation Fund of Anhui Agricultural University (2018yjs-40).

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  1. Fang Liu and Yunjian Xu contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Crop Biology of Anhui Province, Anhui Agricultural University, No. 130, Changjiang West Road, Hefei, 230036, China

    Fang Liu, Yunjian Xu, Hequn Wang, Yuan Zhou, Beijiu Cheng & Xiaoyu Li

  2. National Engineering Laboratory of Crop Stress Resistance Breeding, Anhui Agricultural University, No. 130, Changjiang West Road, Hefei, 230036, China

    Fang Liu, Yunjian Xu, Hequn Wang, Yuan Zhou, Beijiu Cheng & Xiaoyu Li

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  1. Fang Liu
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Construct of the CBX1 promoter-fused GUS reporter gene (JPG 26 kb)

299_2019_2501_MOESM2_ESM.tif

LORE1a insertion sites in cbx1-4 mutant. CBX1 gene structure is shown, and LORE1a insertion sites are illustrated in mutants cbx1-4. TAA indicates the stop codon. Black arrows indicate the LORE1a transposon sequence. Dark gray blocks represent the 5’ UTR and 3’ UTR, light gray blocks represent the exons and black lines between exons represent introns (TIF 93 kb)

Primers used in this study (XLSX 9 kb)

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Liu, F., Xu, Y., Wang, H. et al. APETALA 2 transcription factor CBX1 is a regulator of mycorrhizal symbiosis and growth of Lotus japonicus. Plant Cell Rep 39, 445–455 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-019-02501-2

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