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Plant responses to drought stress require the regulation of transcriptional networks via drought-responsive transcription factors, which mediate a range of morphological and physiological changes. AP2/ERF transcription factors are known to act as key regulators of drought resistance transcriptional networks; however, little is known about the associated molecular mechanisms that give rise to specific morphological and physiological adaptations. In this study, we functionally characterized the rice (Oryza sativa) drought-responsive AP2/ERF transcription factor OsERF71, which is expressed predominantly in the root meristem, pericycle, and endodermis. Overexpression of OsERF71, either throughout the entire plant or specifically in roots, resulted in a drought resistance phenotype at the vegetative growth stage, indicating that overexpression in roots was sufficient to confer drought resistance. The root-specific overexpression was more effective in conferring drought resistance at the reproductive stage, such that grain yield was increased by 23% to 42% over wild-type plants or whole-body overexpressing transgenic lines under drought conditions. OsERF71 overexpression in roots elevated the expression levels of genes related to cell wall loosening and lignin biosynthetic genes, which correlated with changes in root structure, the formation of enlarged aerenchyma, and high lignification levels. Furthermore, OsERF71 was found to directly bind to the promoter of OsCINNAMOYL-COENZYME A REDUCTASE1, a key gene in lignin biosynthesis. These results indicate that the OsERF71-mediated drought resistance pathway recruits factors involved in cell wall modification to enable root morphological adaptations, thereby providing a mechanism for enhancing drought resistance.

Abiotic stress, including drought, salinity, and temperature extremes, regulates gene expression at the transcriptional and posttranscriptional levels. Expression profiling of total messenger RNAs (mRNAs) from rice (Oryza sativa) leaves grown under stress conditions revealed that the transcript levels of photosynthetic genes are reduced more rapidly than others, a phenomenon referred to as stress-induced mRNA decay (SMD). By comparing RNA polymerase II engagement with the steady-state mRNA level, we show here that SMD is a posttranscriptional event. The SMD of photosynthetic genes was further verified by measuring the half-lives of the small subunit of Rubisco (RbcS1) and Chlorophyll a/b-Binding Protein1 (Cab1) mRNAs during stress conditions in the presence of the transcription inhibitor cordycepin. To discern any correlation between SMD and the process of translation, changes in total and polysome-associated mRNA levels after stress were measured. Total and polysome-associated mRNA levels of two photosynthetic (RbcS1 and Cab1) and two stress-inducible (Dehydration Stress-Inducible Protein1 and Salt-Induced Protein) genes were found to be markedly similar. This demonstrated the importance of polysome association for transcript stability under stress conditions. Microarray experiments performed on total and polysomal mRNAs indicate that approximately half of all mRNAs that undergo SMD remain polysome associated during stress treatments. To delineate the functional determinant(s) of mRNAs responsible for SMD, the RbcS1 and Cab1 transcripts were dissected into several components. The expressions of different combinations of the mRNA components were analyzed under stress conditions, revealing that both 3' and 5' untranslated regions are necessary for SMD. Our results, therefore, suggest that the posttranscriptional control of photosynthetic mRNA decay under stress conditions requires both 3' and 5' untranslated regions and correlates with differential polysome association.