A Brassinosteroids-BES1 Regulatory Module Manipulate Thermomemory in
Arabidopsis thaliana
Abstract
Heat stress (HS) caused by ambient high temperature pose a threat to
plants. In the natural and agricultural environment, plants often
encounter repeated and changeable HS. Moderate HS primes plants to
establishment of a molecular ‘thermomemory’ that enables plants to
withstand a later-and possibly more extreme-HS attack. Recent years,
brassinosteroids (BRs) have been implicated in HS response whereas
little is known about whether BRs signal transduction modulates
thermomemory. Here, we uncover the positive role of BRs signaling in
thermomemory of Arabidopsis thaliana. Heat priming induces de
novo synthesis and nuclear accumulation of BRI1-EMS-SUPPRESSOR (BES1),
the key regulator of BRs signaling. BRs promote the accumulation of
dephosphorylated BES1 during memory phase, blocking BRs synthesis
impairs dephosphorylation. During HS memory, BES1 is required to
maintain sustained induction of HS memory genes and directly targets
APX2 and HSFA3 for activation. In summary, our results
reveal a BES1-required, BRs-enhanced transcriptional control module of
thermomemory in Arabidopsis thaliana.