TaNAC1 acts as a negative regulator of stripe rust resistance in wheat, enhances susceptibility to Pseudomonas syringae, and promotes lateral root development in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.

The plant-specific NAC (NAM, ATAF1,2 and CUC2) proteins constitute a major transcription factor family renowned for their roles in several developmental programs. Despite their highly conserved DNA-binding domains, their remarkable diversification across plants reflects their numerous functions. Lately, they have received much attention as regulators in various stress signaling pathways which may include interplay of phytohormones. This review summarizes the recent progress in research on NACs highlighting the proteins' potential for engineering stress tolerance against various abiotic and biotic challenges. We discuss regulatory components and targets of NAC proteins in the context of their prospective role for crop improvement strategies via biotechnological intervention. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In spite of the importance of jasmonates (JAs) as plant growth and stress regulators, the molecular components of their signaling pathway remain largely unknown. By means of a genetic screen that exploits the cross talk between ethylene (ET) and JAs, we describe the identification of several new loci involved in JA signaling and the characterization and positional cloning of one of them, JASMONATE-INSENSITIVE1 (JAI1/JIN1). JIN1 encodes AtMYC2, a nuclear-localized basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper transcription factor, whose expression is rapidly upregulated by JA, in a CORONATINE INSENSITIVE1-dependent manner. Gain-of-function experiments confirmed the relevance of AtMYC2 in the activation of JA signaling. AtMYC2 differentially regulates the expression of two groups of JA-induced genes. The first group includes genes involved in defense responses against pathogens and is repressed by AtMYC2. Consistently, jin1 mutants show increased resistance to necrotrophic pathogens. The second group, integrated by genes involved in JA-mediated systemic responses to wounding, is activated by AtMYC2. Conversely, Ethylene-Response-Factor1 (ERF1) positively regulates the expression of the first group of genes and represses the second. These results highlight the existence of two branches in the JA signaling pathway, antagonistically regulated by AtMYC2 and ERF1, that are coincident with the alternative responses activated by JA and ET to two different sets of stresses, namely pathogen attack and wounding.

Abiotic stresses such as drought and high salinity adversely affect the growth and productivity of plants, including crops. The development of stress-tolerant crops will be greatly advantageous for modern agriculture in areas that are prone to such stresses. In recent years, several advances have been made towards identifying potential stress related genes which are capable of increasing the tolerance of plants to abiotic stress. NAC proteins are plant-specific transcription factors and more than 100 NAC genes have been identified in Arabidopsis and rice to date. Phylogenetic analyses indicate that the six major groups were already established at least in an ancient moss lineage. NAC transcription factors have a variety of important functions not only in plant development but also in abiotic stress responses. Stress-inducible NAC genes have been shown to be involved in abiotic stress tolerance. Transgenic Arabidopsis and rice plants overexpressing stress-responsive NAC (SNAC) genes have exhibited improved drought tolerance. These studies indicate that SNAC factors have important roles for the control of abiotic stress tolerance and that their overexpression can improve stress tolerance via biotechnological approaches. Although these transcription factors can bind to the same core NAC recognition sequence, recent studies have demonstrated that the effects of NAC factors for growth are different. Moreover, the NAC proteins are capable of functioning as homo- or hetero-dimer forms. Thus, SNAC factors can be useful for improving stress tolerance in transgenic plants, although the mechanism for mediating the stress tolerance of these homologous factors is complex in plants. Recent studies also suggest that crosstalk may exist between stress responses and plant growth. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Plant gene regulation in response to abiotic stress. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.