Structural, functional, and phylogenetic characterization of a large CBF gene family in barley

CBFs are key regulators in the Arabidopsis cold signaling pathway. We used Hordeum vulgare (barley), an important crop and a diploid Triticeae model, to characterize the CBF family from a low temperature tolerant cereal. We report that barley contains a large CBF family consisting of at least 20 genes (HvCBFs) comprising three multigene phylogenetic groupings designated the HvCBF1-, HvCBF3-, and HvCBF4-subgroups. For the HvCBF1- and HvCBF3-subgroups, there are comparable levels of phylogenetic diversity among rice, a cold-sensitive cereal, and the cold-hardy Triticeae. For the HvCBF4-subgroup, while similar diversity levels are observed in the Triticeae, only a single ancestral rice member was identified. The barley CBFs share many functional characteristics with dicot CBFs, including a general primary domain structure, transcript accumulation in response to cold, specific binding to the CRT motif, and the capacity to induce cor gene expression when ectopically expressed in Arabidopsis. Individual HvCBF genes differed in response to abiotic stress types and in the response time frame, suggesting different sets of HvCBF genes are employed relative to particular stresses. HvCBFs specifically bound monocot and dicot cor gene CRT elements in vitro under both warm and cold conditions; however, binding of HvCBF4-subgroup members was cold dependent. The temperature-independent HvCBFs activated cor gene expression at warm temperatures in transgenic Arabidopsis, while the cold-dependent HvCBF4-subgroup members of three Triticeae species did not. These results suggest that in the Triticeae - as in Arabidopsis - members of the CBF gene family function as fundamental components of the winter hardiness regulon.