PLoS ONE (Jan 2020)

A MYB transcription factor, BnMYB2, cloned from ramie (Boehmeria nivea) is involved in cadmium tolerance and accumulation.

  • Shoujing Zhu,
  • Wenjuan Shi,
  • Yucheng Jie,
  • Qingming Zhou,
  • Chenbo Song

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233375
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 5
p. e0233375

Abstract

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MYB-related transcription factors play important roles in plant development and response to various environmental stresses. In the present study, a novel MYB gene, designated as BnMYB2 (GenBank accession number: MF741319.1), was isolated from Boehmeria nivea using rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) and RT-PCR on a sequence fragment from a ramie transcriptome. BnMYB2 has a 945 bp open reading frame encoding a 314 amino acid protein that contains a DNA-binding domain and shares high sequence identity with MYB proteins from other plant species. The BnMYB2 promoter contains several putative cis-acting elements involved in stress or phytohormone responses. A translational fusion of BnMYB2 with enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) showed nuclear and cytosolic subcellular localization. Real-time PCR results indicated that BnMYB2 expression was induced by Cadmium (Cd) stress. Overexpression of BnMYB2 in Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in a significant increase of Cd tolerance and accumulation. Thus, BnMYB2 positively regulated Cd tolerance and accumulation in Arabidopsis, and could be used to enhance the efficiency of Cd removal with plants.