Arabidopsis ALTERED MERISTEM PROGRAM 1 negatively modulates plant responses to abscisic acid and dehydration stress

• Expression of AtAMP1 was down-regulated after ABA treatment.
• amp1-1 mutant showed hypersensitivity to ABA and enhanced dehydration resistance.
• AtAMP1 regulated ABA-responsive gene expression and ROS metabolism.
• AtAMP1 might be a negative regulator of ABA-mediated dehydration stress response.

Abscisic acid (ABA) is an important signaling molecule with multiple biological functions in seed germination, plant development and stress responses. ALTERED MERISTEM PROGRAM 1 (AMP1), encoding a putative glutamate carboxypeptidase, is involved in plant growth, morphogenesis and seed dormancy. In this study, we assigned new role for AtAMP1 in ABA signaling and dehydration stress. AtAMP1 was transcriptionally down-regulated by ABA. Loss-of-function mutant of AtAMP1 (amp1-1, encoding a premature stop codon in AtAMP1) resulted in hypersensitive phenotypes toward ABA-mediated seed germination and primary root elongation. The amp1-1 mutant also exhibited enhanced dehydration resistance, as evidenced by the changes of electrolyte leakage (EL), water loss rate and survival rate. Notably, the amp1-1 lines exhibited higher expression levels of ABA-responsive genes (RAB18, RD29A and RD29B), higher concentration of proline and lower reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels (H2O2 and O2−) after ABA and dehydration treatments than those of wild type. Taken together, these observations indicated a negative role for AtAMP1 in ABA-mediated seed germination, seedling development and dehydration stress response.