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AOBPreview published online on November 13, 2008
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mcn227
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Transcription factors and regulation of photosynthetic and related metabolism under environmental stresses

Nelson J. M. Saibo*, Tiago Lourenço and Maria Margarida Oliveira

Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República-EAN, 2780-157 Oeiras, Portugal

* For correspondence. E-mail saibo{at}itqb.unl.pt

Received: 25 June 2008    Returned for revision: 7 August 2008    Accepted: 15 October 2008   

Background: Environmental conditions, such as water supply, temperature and salinity, strongly affect plant growth and development. Extremes of these conditions (abiotic stresses) adversely affect many different mechanisms associated with plant responses and adaptation to stress: photosynthetic mechanisms, e.g. stomatal control of CO2 diffusion, photosystem II repair, ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) activity and scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS), are susceptible to damage, and photosynthetic efficiency can be greatly decreased. Responses and adaptations require differential gene expression, which is regulated by specific transcription factors (TFs).

Scope: The role and regulation of several TFs involved in abiotic stress response pathways are considered, with emphasis on new findings regarding expression of genes related to both stomatal and non-stomatal limitations to CO2 photosynthetic assimilation.

Conclusions: Many TFs, belonging to different families (e.g. MYB, bZIP and DREB), have been related to abiotic stress responses; however, only a few are known to regulate the expression of photosynthesis-related genes in response to stress. Several TFs belonging to the MYB family play an important role in both stomatal and non-stomatal responses by regulation of stomatal numbers and sizes, and metabolic components, respectively. To obtain more insight into this area of potentially large agronomic impact, it is essential to identify and functionally characterize new TFs that mediate the stress responses regulating the expression of genes associated with photosynthesis and related metabolism.

Key words: Transcription factors, photosynthesis, stomata, abiotic stress, abiotic stress signalling, cold, drought, salt, ABA, MYB, AP2/EREBP


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