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Review
. 2021 Jun 7;22(11):6125.
doi: 10.3390/ijms22116125.

Multiple Functions of MYB Transcription Factors in Abiotic Stress Responses

Xiaopei Wang  1 , Yanli Niu  1 , Yuan Zheng  1
Affiliations
Review

Multiple Functions of MYB Transcription Factors in Abiotic Stress Responses

Xiaopei Wang et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Plants face a more volatile environment than other organisms because of their immobility, and they have developed highly efficient mechanisms to adapt to stress conditions. Transcription factors, as an important part of the adaptation process, are activated by different signals and are responsible for the expression of stress-responsive genes. MYB transcription factors, as one of the most widespread transcription factor families in plants, participate in plant development and responses to stresses by combining with MYB cis-elements in promoters of target genes. MYB transcription factors have been extensively studied and have proven to be critical in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in plants, including anthocyanins, flavonols, and lignin. Multiple studies have now shown that MYB proteins play diverse roles in the responses to abiotic stresses, such as drought, salt, and cold stresses. However, the regulatory mechanism of MYB proteins in abiotic stresses is still not well understood. In this review, we will focus mainly on the function of Arabidopsis MYB transcription factors in abiotic stresses, especially how MYB proteins participate in these stress responses. We also pay attention to how the MYB proteins are regulated in these processes at both the transcript and protein levels.

Keywords: MYB; R2R3; abiotic stress responses; transcription factor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The pivotal role of MYB transcription factors in drought tolerance. In response to drought stress, MYB transcription factors regulate the expression of biosynthetic genes of metabolites, such as flavonoids, wax, and cutin, to modulate plant drought tolerance. Additively, MYB transcription factors participate in stomatal movement, mainly through ABA signaling. MYB60 specially regulates the stomatal aperture in response to light while MYB124/FLP and MYB88 also play critical roles in stomatal development. COP1: constitutively photomorphogenic1; MIEL1: MYB30-interacting E3 ligase 1; ROP: RHO GTPase of plants.
Figure 2
Figure 2
MYB transcription factors participate in salt stress through the regulation of downstream target genes. MYB44 and MYB20 positively regulate plant salt tolerance through the repression of key ABA repressor, PP2Cs [36,61]. MYB42 enhanced the expression of SOS2 to facilitate Na+ efflux, while MPK4 phosphorylates MYB42 to protect it from degradation under salt stress [62]. MYB30 activates AOX1a expression to keep cellular redox homeostasis and MYB49 modulates cuticle formation and antioxidant defense [60,63]. Besides its role in flavonoids and cuticle formation, MYB12 can also induce the expression of ABA biosynthesis genes to confer plant salt tolerance [25].
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