Expression analysis of rice A20/AN1-type zinc finger genes and characterization of ZFP177 that contributes to temperature stress tolerance

The A20/AN1-type zinc finger protein family is conserved in animals and plants. Using human AWP1 protein as a query, we identified twelve A20/AN1-type zinc finger proteins in japonica rice. Most of these genes were constitutively expressed in leaves, roots, culms and spikes. Through microarray analysis, it was found that four genes (ZFP177, ZFP181, ZFP176, ZFP173), two genes (ZFP181 and ZFP176) and one gene (ZFP157) were significantly induced by cold, drought and H2O2 treatments, respectively. Further expression analysis showed that ZFP177 was responsive to both cold and heat stresses, but down-regulated by salt. The subcellular localization assay indicated that ZFP177 was localized in cytoplasm in tobacco leaf and root cells. Yeast-one hybrid assay showed that ZFP177 lacked trans-activation potential in yeast cells. Overexpression of ZFP177 in tobacco conferred tolerance of transgenic plants to both low and high temperature stresses, but increased sensitivity to salt and drought stresses. Further we found expression levels of some stress-related genes were inhibited in ZFP177 transgenic plants. These results suggested that ZFP177 might play crucial but differential roles in plant responses to various abiotic stresses.