Picea wilsonii Transcription Factor PwNAC38 Promotes Drought and Salt Tolerance in Transgenic Arabidopsis and Apple Calli

The mechanism of Picea wilsonii adapting to abiotic stress remains largely unknown. NAC (NAM, ATAF and CUC) transcription factors play significant roles in plant response to adverse environments. In this study, based on our previous RNA-seq, we analyzed the expression patterns of PwNAC38, and revealed its functions in the process of PwNAC38-mediated stress responses. An open-reading frame, encoding PwNAC38 protein with 330 amino acids, was isolated from the cDNA library, a process which can be induced by drought, salt and ABA treatment. Subcellular localization and yeast experiments showed that PwNAC38 was a nuclear-localized transcription factor, and could form homodimers. The full length of PwNAC38 showed transcriptional activity, while the truncated segments, C-PwNAC38 (156–330 aa) and N-PwNAC38 (1–156 aa), did not. The constitutive expression of PwNAC38 (OE lines) in Arabidopsis did not exert influence on the growth of transgenic plants under normal conditions, whereas transgenic seedlings showed higher survival rates, and the seeds had stronger vigor and a higher germination rate under drought and salt stress. The seed germination and root growth of PwNAC38 OE lines were significantly inhibited in the presence of ABA, suggesting the hypersensitivity of PwNAC38 to ABA treatment. Physiological assays showed that the activity of antioxidant enzymes, such as SOD and POD, increased, and that the accumulation of superoxide anion decreased, in OE lines under stress conditions. Moreover, overexpression of PwNAC38 significantly improved drought and salt tolerance in apple calli. A qRT-PCR assay showed that overexpression of PwNAC38 in Arabidopsis promoted the expression of drought or ABA-responsive genes ATHB-7, ANAC019, ERD1, DREB2A, RD29A, ABI5 and NCED3. Taken together, our results revealed that PwNAC38 is positively involved in plants’ response to drought and salt stress by enhancing ROS scavenging efficiency, and is partially dependent on the ABA signaling pathway.