PhbZIP2 regulates photosynthesis-related genes in an intertidal macroalgae, Pyropia haitanensis, under stress

Han Zhang; Gaoxiong Zeng; Jiajia Xie; Yichi Zhang; Dehua Ji; Yan Xu; Chaotian Xie; Wenlei Wang

doi:10.3389/fmolb.2024.1345585

PhbZIP2 regulates photosynthesis-related genes in an intertidal macroalgae, Pyropia haitanensis, under stress

Front Mol Biosci. 2024 Apr 15:11:1345585. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2024.1345585. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Han Zhang^#^{1

2

3}, Gaoxiong Zeng^#^{1

4}, Jiajia Xie^{1

2

3}, Yichi Zhang^{1

2

3}, Dehua Ji^{1

2

3}, Yan Xu^{1

2

3}, Chaotian Xie^{1

2

3}, Wenlei Wang^{1

2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Fisheries College, Jimei University, Xiamen, China.
² Fujian Engineering Research Center of Aquatic Breeding and Healthy Aquaculture, Xiamen, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Healthy Mariculture for the East China Sea, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Xiamen, China.
⁴ Freshwater Fisheries Research Institute of Fujian, Fuzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Intertidal macroalgae are important research subjects in stress biology. Basic region-leucine zipper transcription factors (bZIPs) play an important regulatory role in the expression of target genes under abiotic stress. We herein identified a bZIP2 gene PhbZIP2 to regulate abiotic stress tolerance in Pyropia haitanensis, a representative intertidal macroalgal species. Cloning and sequencing of the cDNA characterized a BRLZ structure and an α coiled-coil structure between amino acids and Expression of PhbZIP2 was detected to upregulate under both high temperature and salt stresses. A DAP-seq analysis revealed the PhbZIP2-binding motifs of (T/C)TCCA(C/G) and A (A/G)AAA (G/A), which differed from the conserved motifs in plants. Overexpression of PhbZIP2 was indicative of a high temperature and salt stress tolerances in transgenic Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. It was suggested that PhbZIP2 was probably involved in regulating expression of the photosynthetic-related genes and the response to the abiotic stresses in P. haitanensis, which provide new insights for elucidating efficient adaptation strategies of intertidal macroalgae.

Keywords: DAP-seq; abiotic stress tolerance; bZIP transcription factor; heterologous expression; intertidal macroalgae.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers: 42176117 and U21A20265), and the China Agriculture Research System of MOF and MARA (grant number: CARS-50), and The Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by the China Association of Science and Technology (grant number: 2021QNRC001).