International Journal of Molecular Sciences Article ThHSFA1 Confers Salt Stress Tolerance through Modulation of Reactive Oxygen Species Scavenging by Directly Regulating ThWRKY4 Ting-Ting Sun 1,2,†, Chao Wang 3,†, Rui Liu 1, Yu Zhang 1, Yu-Cheng Wang 3 and Liu-Qiang Wang 1,4,* 1 State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of the State Forestry Administration, Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China;
[email protected] (T.-T.S.);
[email protected] (R.L.);
[email protected] (Y.Z.) 2 Beijing Academy of Forestry and Pomology Sciences, Beijing Engineering Research Center for Deciduous Fruit Trees, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Horticultural Crops (North China), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100093, China 3 State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China;
[email protected] (C.W.);
[email protected] (Y.-C.W.) 4 Co-Innovation Center for Sustainable Forestry in Southern China, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +86-10-62889687 † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) play critical roles in several types of environmental stresses. However, the detailed regulatory mechanisms in response to salt stress are still largely un- known. In this study, we examined the salt-induced transcriptional responses of ThHSFA1-ThWRKY4 in Tamarix hispida and their functions and regulatory mechanisms in salt tolerance. ThHSFA1 protein Citation: Sun, T.-T.; Wang, C.; Liu, R.; acts as an upstream regulator that can directly activate ThWRKY4 expression by binding to the heat Zhang, Y.; Wang, Y.-C.; Wang, L.-Q.