MYB30 Regulates Submergence Tolerance by Repressing Ethylene Biosynthesis via ACS7 in Arabidopsis

Floods impose detrimental effects on natural and agro-ecosystems, leading to a significant loss of worldwide crop production. Global climate change has even worsened this situation. Flooding is a continuous process including two stages of submergence and re-oxygenation, and both are harmful to plant growth and development, resulting in a serious decline in crop yield. Therefore, the understanding of plant flooding tolerance and developing flooding-resistant crops are of great significance. Here, we report that the Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis) R2R3-MYB transcription factor MYB30 participates in plant submergence response through 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase 7 (ACS7) by repressing ethylene (ET) biosynthesis. The MYB30 loss-of-function mutant exhibits reduced submergence tolerance with a higher level of ET production, whereas the MYB30-overexpressing plant displays enhanced submergence tolerance and repressed ET production. The coding gene of ACS7 might be a direct target of MYB30 during the submergence response. MYB30 binds to the promoter of ACS7 and represses its transcription. The ACS7 loss-of-function mutant with defect in ET biosynthesis displays enhanced submergence tolerance, whereas plants overexpressing ACS7 exhibit a submergence-sensitive phenotype. Genetic analysis shows that ACS7 functions downstream of MYB30 in both ET biosynthesis and submergence response. Taken together, our work revealed a novel transcriptional regulation that modulates submergence response in plants.

Automated summary

Floods have a detrimental effect on natural and agro-ecosystems, leading to a significant reduction in worldwide crop production. The Arabidopsis thaliana MYB30 transcription factor plays a role in plant submergence response by repressing ethylene biosynthesis through 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid synthase 7 (ACS7). The MYB30 loss-of-function mutant exhibits reduced submergence tolerance with increased ethylene production, while overexpressing MYB30 enhances submergence tolerance and represses ethylene production. ACS7 is a direct target of MYB30, and its loss-of-function mutant displays enhanced submergence tolerance.