Identification of AhATL1 interaction proteins participating in drought stress memory in peanut

Abstract

Plants have evolved an adaptive mechanism named drought stress memory to improve resistance and increase survival chances, by means of coordination of physiological responses and changes of gene expression patterns. The ATP-binding cassette (ABC) superfamily G proteins are membrane proteins that are involved in abscisic acid (ABA) transport and the response to drought stress. The ABC protein AhATL1 could play an important role in drought resistance by affecting ABA importation and stomatal closure and could participate in drought stress memory in Arachis hypogaea L. Here, we screened the interacting proteins of AhATL1 by co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry, in order to further explore the function of AhATL1 in response to repeated dehydration stress. Subsequently, we screened for proteins that may be related to abscisic acid transport and identified AhLBP, AhGCP, AhSHT and AhHSP. Furthermore, we predicted their signal peptides, transmembrane structures, functional domains, and analyzed their gene expression levels, demonstrating they may play a role in peanut drought stress memory. Yeast two-hybrid assay showed that AtSLAC1 but not AhLBP, AhGCP, AhSHT, AhHSP or AhSLAC1 interacted with AhATL1. However, confocal microscopic analysis demonstrated that AhATL1 was co-localized with AhHSP, AhSLAC1 and AtSALC1. And BiFC assays showed that AhATL1 interacted with AhSLAC1 and AtSALC1, indicating that a close relationship existed between them. The findings provide further insights into the role of AhATL1 in drought stress memory and a useful reference for exploring the role of the ABA signaling pathway in plant drought stress memory. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13102818.2021.2013734 .

Keywords

• peanut
• ahatl1
• drought stress memory
• interaction protein