Overexpression of the wounding-responsive gene AtMYB15 activates the shikimate pathway in Arabidopsis

The MYB transcription factor genes play important roles in many developmental processes and various defense responses of plants. The shikimate pathway is a major biosynthetic pathway for the production of three aromatic amino acids and other aromatic compounds that are involved in multiple responses of plants, including protection against UV and defense. Herein, we describe the characterization of the R2R3-MYB gene AtMYB15 as an activator of the shikimate pathway in Arabidopsis. The AtMYB15 protein is nuclear localized and a transcriptional activation domain is found in its C-terminal portion. Northern blots showed that AtMYB15 is an early wounding-inducible gene. Results of microarray analysis, confirmed using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, showed that overexpression of AtMYB15 in transgenic plants resulted in elevated expression of almost all the genes involved in the shikimate pathway. Bioinformatics analysis showed that one or more AtMYB15-binding AC elements were detected in the promoters of these upregulated genes. Furthermore, these genes in the shikimate pathway were also found to be induced by wounding. These data suggest an important role of AtMYB15 as a possible direct regulator of the Arabidopsis shikimate pathway in response to wounding.