A study on the regulatory network with promoter analysis for Arabidopsis DREB-genes

Dehydration response element binding factors (DREBs) are one of the principal plant transcription factor subfamilies that regulate the expression of many abiotic stress-inducible genes. This sub-family belongs to AP2 transcription factor family and plays a considerable role in improving abiotic stresses tolerance in plants. Therefore, it is of interest to identify critical cis-acting elements involved in abiotic stress responses. In this study, we survey promoter cis-elements for ATDREBs genes (Arabidopsis thaliana DREBs). Regulatory networks based on ATDREB candidate genes were also generated to find other genes that are functionally similar to DREBs. The study was conducted on all 20 Arabidopsis thaliana non redundant DREB genes stored in RefSeq database. Promoter analysis and regulatory network prediction was accomplished by use of Plant CARE program and GeneMANIA web tool, respectively. The results indicated that among all genes, DREB1A, DREB1C, DREB2C, DREB2G and DEAR3 have the most type of diverse motifs involved in abiotic stress responses. It is implied that co-operation of abscisic acid, ethylene, salicylic acid and methyl jasmonate signaling is crucial for the regulation of the expression of drought and cold responses through DREB transcription factors. Gene network analysis showed different co-expressed but functionally similar genes that had physical and functional interactions with candidate DREB genes.