The Miscanthus NAC transcription factor MlNAC9 enhances abiotic stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis

• MlNAC9 is a nuclear localized transcription activator with the activation domain located in the C-terminus.
• Overexpression of MlNAC9 conferred enhanced drought, salt, and cold stress tolerances in transgenic Arabidopsis via an ABA-dependent pathway.
• The enhanced tolerances of MlNAC9 transgenic plants were mainly attributed to the increased expression of stress-responsive genes and the enhanced reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging capability.

NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) transcription factors are known to play important roles in responses to abiotic stresses in plants. Currently, little information regarding the functional roles of NAC genes in stress tolerance is available in Miscanthus lutarioriparius, a promising bioenergy plant for cellulosic ethanol production. In this study, we carried out the functional characterization of MlNAC9 in abiotic stresses. MlNAC9 was shown to act as a nuclear localized transcription activator with the activation domain in its C-terminus. The overexpression of MlNAC9 in Arabidopsis conferred hypersensitivity to abscisic acid (ABA) at seed germination and root elongation stages. In addition, the overexpression of MlNAC9 led to increased seed germination rate and root growth under salt (NaCl) treatment. Meanwhile, the transgenic Arabidopsis overexpressing MlNAC9 showed enhanced tolerance to drought and cold stresses. The expression of stress-responsive marker genes was significantly increased in MlNAC9 overexpression lines compared to that of WT under ABA, drought, salt, and cold stresses. Correspondingly, the activities of antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), and catalase (CAT) were significantly increased and the malondialdehyde (MDA) content was lower accumulated in MlNAC9 overexpression lines under drought and salt treatments. These results indicated that the overexpression of MlNAC9 improved the tolerance to abiotic stresses via an ABA-dependent pathway, and the enhanced tolerance of transgenic plants was mainly attributed to the increased expression of stress-responsive genes and the enhanced scavenging capability of reactive oxygen species (ROS).