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Analyzing the regulatory role of heat shock transcription factors in plant heat stress tolerance: a brief appraisal

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Abstract

An increase in ambient temperature throughout the twenty-first century has been described as a “worldwide threat” for crop production. Due to their sessile lifestyles, plants have evolved highly sophisticated and complex heat stress response (HSR) mechanisms to respond to higher temperatures. The HSR allows plants to minimize the damages caused by heat stress (HS), thus enabling cellular protection. HSR is crucial for their lifecycle and yield, particularly for plants grown in the field. At the cellular level, HSR involves the production of heat shock proteins (HSPs) and other stress-responsive proteins to counter the negative effects of HS. The expression of most HSPs is transcriptionally regulated by heat shock transcription factors (HSFs). HSFs are a group of evolutionary conserved regulatory proteins present in all eukaryotes and regulate various stress responses and biological processes in plants. In recent years, significant progress has been made in deciphering the complex regulatory network of HSFs, and several HSFs not only from model plants but also from major crops have been functionally characterized. Therefore, this review explores the progress made in this fascinating research area and debates the further potential to breed thermotolerant crop cultivars through the modulation of HSF networks. Furthermore, we discussed the role of HSFs in plant HS tolerance in a class-specific manner and shed light on their functional diversity, which is evident from their mode of action. Additionally, some research gaps have been highlighted concerning class-specific manners.

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Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Modified from Huang et al. [71] and Haider et al. [6] with publishers’ permission

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Abbreviations

HS:

Heat stress

HSR:

Heat stress response

HSFs:

Heat shock transcription factors

HSPs:

Heat shock proteins

TF:

Transcription factor

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

DBD:

DNA-binding domain

OD:

Oligomerization domain

HR-A/B:

Hydrophobic associated-A/B region

NLS:

Nuclear localization signal

NES:

Nuclear export signal

AHA:

Activator peptide motif

HSEs:

Heat shock elements

RD:

Repression domain

HTH:

Helix-turn-helix motif

OE:

Overexpression

CS:

Co-suppression

JA:

Jasmonic acid

UPR:

Unfolded protein response

APX2:

Ascorbate peroxidase 2

H2O2 :

Hydrogen peroxide

DREB2A:

Dehydration-responsive element-binding protein 2A

OsGolS1:

Oryza sativa Galactinol synthase 1

ABA:

Abscisic acid

BRs:

Brassinosteroid

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Acknowledgements

The author wants to thank several colleagues for the scientific discussion, which helped improve the manuscript’s content. The author apologizes to all colleagues whose relevant work could not be cited due to space limitations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Lab, Department of Plant Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Saqlain Haider, Muzaffar Shaukat & Tariq Mahmood

  2. Key Laboratory of Ministry of Education for Genetics, Breeding and Multiple Utilization of Crops, Oil Crops Research Institute, Center of Legume Crop Genetics and Systems Biology/College of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University (FAFU), Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Ali Raza

  3. Department of Botany, Bacha Khan University, Charsadda, 24420, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

    Javed Iqbal

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  1. Saqlain Haider
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  2. Ali Raza
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SH and TM conceived the idea. SH, MS, and AR wrote the manuscript. AR, SH, JI, and TM revised and improved the manuscript.

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Haider, S., Raza, A., Iqbal, J. et al. Analyzing the regulatory role of heat shock transcription factors in plant heat stress tolerance: a brief appraisal. Mol Biol Rep 49, 5771–5785 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-07190-x

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