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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Parlier, California » San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Sciences Center » Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #422609
Research Project: Identifying Vulnerabilities in Vector-host-pathogen Interactions of Grapevine and Citrus Pathosystems to Advance Sustainable Management Strategies

Location: Crop Diseases, Pests and Genetics Research

Title: The NAC transcription factor ATAF2 enhances Arabidopsis biomass and chlorophyll a accumulations at the early growth stage

Author
item Peng, Hao
item Zhai, Ying
item NEFF, MICHAEL - Washington State University

Submitted to: BMC Research Notes
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/7/2025
Publication Date: 9/29/2025
Citation: Peng, H., Zhai, Y., Neff, M.M. 2025. The NAC transcription factor ATAF2 enhances Arabidopsis biomass and chlorophyll a accumulations at the early growth stage. BMC Research Notes. 18. Article 388. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-025-07421-x.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-025-07421-x

Interpretive Summary: Hormones and chlorophylls a/b play important roles in plant growth and photosynthesis. Their regulatory mechanisms are complex and haven't been adequately investigated. ATAF2 is a transcription factor that enhances the accumulations of growth-promoting hormones brassinosteroids (BRs) and the auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) in the model plant species Arabidopsis thaliana. ATAF2 also suppresses the expression of the chlorophyll degrading enzyme NYC1. We found that ATAF2 enhances plant biomass and chlorophyll a accumulations, possibly via modulating BR/IAA and NYC1 levels inside the plants. The findings provide a new clue on improving photosynthesis stability and biomass production.

Technical Abstract: The Arabidopsis thaliana NAC-family transcription factor ATAF2 plays extensive regulatory roles in plant disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, leaf senescence, hormone metabolism, and seedling photomorphogenesis. Using Arabidopsis seedlings as the investigation platform, we previously demonstrated that ATAF2 overexpression can increase the endogenous levels of the growth-promoting hormone brassinosteroids (BRs) and suppress the expression of the chlorophyll b (Chl-b) reductase NYC1, which catalyzes the initial step of the degradation of light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein complex of photosystem II (LHCII). ATAF2 also promotes the expression of NIT2, which is involved in the biosynthesis of the auxin indole-3-acetic acid (IAA). Here, we further examined the effects of elevated BR/IAA levels and reduced NYC1 expression on biomass and Chl-a/b accumulations, respectively. Twelve-day-old plants were harvested for biomass and Chl-a/b measurements. While no significant difference of biomass or Chl-a/b accumulations was observed between the wild-type Col-0 and the loss-of-function ataf2-1/2 plants, all three ATAF2 overexpression lines (ATAF2ox-1/2/3) exhibited much higher biomass and Chl-a accumulations as compared to Col-0 and ataf2-1/2, which can at least be partially interpreted as the consequences of higher endogenous BR/IAA levels and reduced NYC1 expression, respectively. The results demonstrate the positive regulatory role of ATAF2 in biomass and Chl-a accumulations. Notably, ATAF2 overexpression does not increase Arabidopsis biomass accumulation at later growth stages, indicating its functional nature of developmental timing acceleration.