Arabidopsis BRCA1 represses RRTF1-mediated ROS production and ROS-responsive gene expression under dehydration stress

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) act as important secondary messengers in abscisic acid (ABA) signaling and induce stomatal closure under dehydration stress. The breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1), an important tumor suppressor in animals, functions primarily in the maintenance of genome integrity in animals and plants. However, whether and how the plant BRCA1 regulates intracellular ROS homeostasis in guard cells under dehydration stress remains unknown. Here, we found that Arabidopsis thaliana atbrca1 loss-of-function mutants showed dehydration stress tolerance. This stress tolerant phenotype of atbrca1 was due to the ABA- and ROS-induced stomatal closure, which was enhanced in atbrca1 mutants compared with the wild type. AtBRCA1 down-regulated the expression of ROS-responsive and marker genes. Notably, these genes were also the targets of the AP2/ERF transcriptional activator, RRTF1/ERF109. Under normal conditions, AtBRCA1 physically interacted with RRTF1 and inhibited its binding to the GCC-box-like sequence in target gene promoters. Under dehydration stress, the expression of AtBRCA1 was dramatically reduced and that of RRTF1 was activated, thus inducing the expression of ROS-responsive genes. Overall, our study reveals a novel molecular function of AtBRCA1 in the transcriptional regulation of intracellular ROS homeostasis under dehydration stress.

Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; AtBRCA1; dehydration stress; reactive oxygen species; transcriptional regulation.