biomolecules Article Molecular Targets and Biological Functions of cAMP Signaling in Arabidopsis Ruqiang Xu 1,2,*, Yanhui Guo 1, Song Peng 1, Jinrui Liu 1, Panyu Li 1, Wenjing Jia 1 and Junheng Zhao 1 1 School of Agricultural Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China;
[email protected] (Y.G.);
[email protected] (S.P.);
[email protected] (J.L.);
[email protected] (P.L.);
[email protected] (W.J.);
[email protected] (J.Z.) 2 Zhengzhou Research Base, State Key Laboratory of Cotton Biology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +86-0371-6778-5095 Abstract: Cyclic AMP (cAMP) is a pivotal signaling molecule existing in almost all living organisms. However, the mechanism of cAMP signaling in plants remains very poorly understood. Here, we employ the engineered activity of soluble adenylate cyclase to induce cellular cAMP elevation in Arabidopsis thaliana plants and identify 427 cAMP-responsive genes (CRGs) through RNA-seq analysis. Induction of cellular cAMP elevation inhibits seed germination, disturbs phytohormone contents, promotes leaf senescence, impairs ethylene response, and compromises salt stress tolerance and pathogen resistance. A set of 62 transcription factors are among the CRGs, supporting a prominent role of cAMP in transcriptional regulation. The CRGs are significantly overrepresented in the pathways of plant hormone signal transduction, MAPK signaling, and diterpenoid biosynthesis, but + they are also implicated in lipid, sugar, K , nitrate signaling, and beyond. Our results provide a basic framework of cAMP signaling for the community to explore. The regulatory roles of cAMP signaling Citation: Xu, R.; Guo, Y.; Peng, S.; in plant plasticity are discussed.