Conserved HSFA1-dependent chromatin dynamics drive heat stress responses in plants
Journal
Cell Reports
Journal Volume
44
Journal Issue
12
Start Page
116714
ISSN
2211-1247
Date Issued
2025-12-23
Author(s)
Yen, Ming-Jen
Lin, Kuan-Hung
Thalimaraw, Lavakau
Yang, Hsiu-Ru
Boonyaves, Kulaporn
Wu, Ting-Ying
Abstract
Eukaryotic organisms remodel chromatin landscapes to regulate gene expression in response to environmental stress. In plants, heat stress (HS) induces widespread chromatin changes, yet the role of heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) in chromatin remodeling and their evolutionary conservation remains unclear. Using Marchantia polymorpha Mphsf mutants and Arabidopsis thaliana Athsfa1s mutants, we identify HSFA1 as a key regulator of HS-induced cis-regulatory element (CRE) accessibility, a mechanism conserved across land plants, mice, and humans. Gene regulatory network modeling reveals parallel transcription factor subnetworks, with MpWRKY10 and MpABI5B acting as indirect and negative HS regulators. We further showed that ABA modulates gene expression in an HSFA1-dependent manner without inducing chromatin remodeling. Finally, we develop a machine learning framework integrating chromatin accessibility and CRE information to predict gene expression across species, revealing stress-responsive regulatory logic at the transcriptional level. These findings provide insights into how TFs coordinate chromatin architecture to drive stress adaptation.
Subjects
ABA
chromatin remodeling
cis-regulatory codes
CP: plants
heat stress
land plant evolution
machine learning prediction
multi-layer gene regulatory network
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Type
journal article