The Bitter Gourd Transcription Factor McNAC087 Confers Cold Resistance in Transgenic Arabidopsis

Low-temperature stress severely restricts the growth, development, and yield of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.), a warm-loving crop with inherent low cold tolerance. NAC transcription factors (TFs) serve as crucial regulators in plant responses to abiotic stresses like cold, while their roles in coping with cold stress in bitter gourd remain unclear. This study identified cold-responsive genes in bitter gourd and characterized the candidate NAC TF McNAC087 through transcriptome analysis. Transcriptome sequencing of cold-tolerant (R) and cold-sensitive (S) bitter gourd inbred lines under 5 °C stress (0 h, 6 h, 12 h, 24 h) revealed 1157 co-expressed differentially expressed genes (DEGs), enriched via Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis in cold tolerance-related pathways (signal transduction, carbohydrate/amino acid metabolism). RT-qPCR showed higher McNAC087 expression in R than S under cold stress, and subcellular localization confirmed it as a nucleus-localized protein. McNAC087 overexpression in Arabidopsis enhanced cold tolerance after sequential stress (−14 °C for 1.5 h, 4 °C for 16 h, and 22 °C recovery for 2 days), with less damage compared to wildtype (WT). Physiologically, overexpressing lines had higher proline, elevated superoxide dismutase/peroxidase/catalase (SOD/POD/CAT) activities, lower malondialdehyde/hydrogen peroxide/superoxide anion (MDA/H2O2/O2−) accumulation under cold stress, and upregulated ICE-CBF-COR pathway marker genes (CBF1, DREB2A, RD29A, COR47). In conclusion, McNAC087 enhances Arabidopsis cold tolerance by regulating physiology and activating cold-responsive genes, providing insights for bitter gourd cold tolerance mechanisms and crop breeding.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Plants

• Publication date

  2025-11-01

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.3390/plants14223440PMID 41304591PMCID 12656278
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

• Multiple roles of NAC transcription factors in plant development and stress responses.

  2025cited by this paper
• SlNAC3 suppresses cold tolerance in tomatoes by enhancing ethylene biosynthesis.

  2024cited by this paper
• Characterization of NAC Gene Family in Ammopiptanthus mongolicus and Functional Analysis of AmNAC24, an Osmotic and Cold-Stress-Induced NAC Gene

  2024cited by this paper
• MbMYBC1, a M. baccata MYB transcription factor, contribute to cold and drought stress tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis

  2023cited by this paper
• OsNAC5 orchestrates OsABI5 to fine-tune cold tolerance in rice.

  2023cited by this paper
• NACs, generalist in plant life

  2023cited by this paper
• Characterization of the NAC Transcription Factor in Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis) and Functional Identification of PeNAC-19 in Cold Stress

  2023cited by this paper
• The cold-stress responsive gene DREB1A involved in low-temperature tolerance in Xinjiang wild walnut

  2022cited by this paper
• Antagonistic control of seed dormancy in rice by two bHLH transcription factors

  2022cited by this paper
• Isolation and Functional Analysis of VvWRKY28, a Vitis vinifera WRKY Transcription Factor Gene, with Functions in Tolerance to Cold and Salt Stress in Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

  2022cited by this paper
• ICE-CBF-COR Signaling Cascade and Its Regulation in Plants Responding to Cold Stress

  2022cited by this paper
• The NAC transcription factor CaNAC064 is a regulator of cold stress tolerance in peppers.

  2020cited by this paper
• The role of NAC transcription factor in plant cold response

  2020influential reference
• Gene expression and metabolic changes of Momordica charantia L. seedlings in response to low temperature stress

  2020cited by this paper
• Physiological and Molecular Mechanism Involved in Cold Stress Tolerance in Plants

  2020cited by this paper
• STCH4/REIL2 Confers Cold Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis by Promoting rRNA Processing and CBF Protein Translation.

  2020cited by this paper
• Low-temperature tolerance and transcriptome analyses during seed germination of Anabasis aphylla

  2019cited by this paper
• Toward understanding the origin and evolution of cellular organisms

  2019cited by this paper
• Molecular Regulation of CBF Signaling in Cold Acclimation.

  2018cited by this paper
• fastp: an ultra-fast all-in-one FASTQ preprocessor

  2018cited by this paper
• Differential physiological and metabolic response to low temperature in two zoysiagrass genotypes native to high and low latitude

  2018cited by this paper
• Gene regulation and signal transduction in the ICE–CBF–COR signaling pathway during cold stress in plants

  2017cited by this paper
• Photosynthesis, antioxidant system and gene expression of bermudagrass in response to low temperature and salt stress

  2016cited by this paper
• Tomato plants increase their tolerance to low temperature in a chilling acclimation process entailing comprehensive transcriptional and metabolic adjustments.

  2016cited by this paper
• Rice NAC transcription factor ONAC095 plays opposite roles in drought and cold stress tolerance

  2016cited by this paper
• OsASR5 enhances drought tolerance through a stomatal closure pathway associated with ABA and H2O2 signalling in rice

  2016cited by this paper
• HISAT: a fast spliced aligner with low memory requirements

  2015cited by this paper
• NAC transcription factors in plant multiple abiotic stress responses: progress and prospects

  2015cited by this paper
• Moderated estimation of fold change and dispersion for RNA-seq data with DESeq2

  2014cited by this paper
• Banana fruit NAC transcription factor MaNAC1 is a direct target of MaICE1 and involved in cold stress through interacting with MaCBF1.

  2014cited by this paper
• Fast gapped-read alignment with Bowtie 2

  2012cited by this paper
• Soybean NAC transcription factors promote abiotic stress tolerance and lateral root formation in transgenic plants.

  2011cited by this paper
• RSEM: accurate transcript quantification from RNA-Seq data with or without a reference genome

  2011cited by this paper
• Cold stress regulation of gene expression in plants.

  2007cited by this paper
• Transcriptional Profiling Implicates Novel Interactions between Abiotic Stress and Hormonal Responses in Thellungiella, a Close Relative of Arabidopsis1[W]

  2006cited by this paper
• NAC transcription factors: structurally distinct, functionally diverse.

  2005cited by this paper
• Proline induces the expression of salt-stress-responsive proteins and may improve the adaptation of Pancratium maritimum L. to salt-stress.

  2003cited by this paper
• Analysis of relative gene expression data using real-time quantitative PCR and the 2(-Delta Delta C(T)) Method.

  2001cited by this paper
• KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes

  2000cited by this paper
• KEGG: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes

  1999cited by this paper
• Analysis of Relative Gene Expression Data Using Real-Time Quantitative PCR and the 2 2 DD C T Method

  year unknowncited by this paper

• Proteomic Variation in Two Genotypes of Bitter Gourd During Cold Acclimation

  2026cites this paper
• Genome-wide identification of the ADF gene family and expression analysis of responses to cold stress in bitter gourd.

  2026cites this paper