TaEF1A is involved in low phosphorus stress responses and affects root development

Translation elongation factors (EF) play essential roles in intracellular protein synthesis and are often used as housekeeping genes in expression studies due to their relatively steady levels, and some EF genes have also been found to participate in the stress response. At present, little information regarding stress-related EF genes is available in nutrient-induced signal transduction. Here, in order to better explore the molecular function of EF gene in response to nutrient stress, we isolated a translation elongation factor gene from the wheat cultivar 'Zhengmai9023', which was named TaEF1A, and its structural characteristics and sequence conservation among related species were analyzed. TaEF1A expression is rapidly induced by low phosphate (LP) stress at the early stage in wheat. Moreover, to further elucidate the function of the TaEF1 gene in the low phosphate (LP) stress response, we generated TaEF1A-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants and found that the number of lateral roots in TaEF1A-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana was significantly increased compared with that in wild-type plants under LP stress. Meanwhile, observations using a mCherry antibody combined with laser confocal microscopy revealed that the TaEF1A protein was distributed near the membranes of root tip cells. More importantly, analysis of the transcription level showed that the expression of the key gene auxin response factor (ARF7), which is a critical factor for lateral root primordial development, was significantly up-regulated, indicating that the TaEF1A gene might promote lateral root development by regulating the ARF gene. Taken together, our results suggest that the TaEF1A gene is involved in the response to phosphorus stress and affects lateral root development, providing new clues into the regulation of the plant response under LP and the molecular mechanism underlying the role of the wheat EF gene in the stress response.