Abstract
The AtDREB1A gene is an important transcriptional factor that controls many abiotic stress inducible genes and confers abiotic stress tolerance to plants. In our previous study, AtDREB1A enhanced the abiotic stress tolerance in potato. However, the mechanism of abiotic stress tolerance in potato controlled by AtDREB1A was not clear and the orthologous gene in potato had not been reported yet.
To investigate how AtDREB1A improves the abiotic stress tolerance in potato, we tried to identify the abiotic stress- and AtDREB1A-inducible gene using the 22K oligo-DNA microarray. As the result, we identified 47 genes. Fifteen of these genes belonged to stress categories such as dehydrin and heat shock protein. These homologs in AtDREB1A have been reported to be downstream of the AtDREB1A gene. These results suggest that the AtDREB1A acts as a transcriptional factor against abiotic stress in potato and that mechanisms in abiotic stress tolerance controlled by the native transcriptional factor similar to AtDREB1A may exist in potato. In addition, the putative cis-element related to abiotic stress was found in some 5' upstream region of those identified genes.
