The AP2/ERF GmERF113 Positively Regulates the Drought Response by Activating GmPR10-1 in Soybean

Ethylene response factors (ERFs) are involved in biotic and abiotic stress; however, the drought resistance mechanisms of many ERFs in soybeans have not been resolved. Previously, we proved that enhances resistance to the pathogen in soybean. Here, we determined that is induced by 20% PEG-6000. Compared to the wild-type plants, soybean plants overexpressing ( -OE) displayed increased drought tolerance which was characterized by milder leaf wilting, less water loss from detached leaves, smaller stomatal aperture, lower Malondialdehyde (MDA) content, increased proline accumulation, and higher Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and Peroxidase (POD) activities under drought stress, whereas plants with silenced through RNA interference were the opposite. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and dual effector-reporter assays showed that GmERF113 binds to the GCC-box in the promoter, activating expression directly. Overexpressing improved drought resistance in the composite soybean plants with transgenic hairy roots. RNA-seq analysis revealed that GmERF113 downregulates abscisic acid 8'-hydroxylase 3 ( ' ) and upregulates various drought-related genes. Overexpressing and increased the abscisic acid (ABA) content and reduced the expression of ' in transgenic soybean plants and hairy roots, respectively. These results reveal that the GmERF113-GmPR10-1 pathway improves drought resistance and affects the ABA content in soybean, providing a theoretical basis for the molecular breeding of drought-tolerant soybean.