Molecular characterization of At3g10040, a low oxygen-responsive gene of Arabidopsis thaliana

In this work, the functional characterization of At3g10040, a trihelix TF-coding gene of Arabidopsis thaliana with unassigned molecular function, has been carried out. Transcriptomic analyses performed in the past years have led to the identification of a core of low oxygen-responsive genes in arabidopsis, among which At3g10040 is found as one of the most strongly and early up-regulated. Over-expression of the gene in arabidopsis causes the attenuation of the transcriptional response to anoxia, but nevertheless proves to be beneficial for the plant stress tolerance. Although At3g10040 promoter and leader sequence are able to drive the anoxic transcription of a downstream reporter, translation is mainly post-anoxic, suggesting that At3g10040 might be implied in gene repression during the post-stress recovery. We put forward a role for At3g10040 in dampening the fermentative metabolism, in a cellular strategy aimed at optimizing the rates of energy production after a low oxygen stress. The presence of a submergence-responsive At3g10040 ortholog in rice outlines the possibility of a conserved strategy in plant post-hypoxic responses.