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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Plant Sci.

Sec. Plant Abiotic Stress

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1623563

This article is part of the Research TopicPlant Stress Resistance: Unraveling the Mechanisms and Strategies for ResilienceView all 19 articles

UVH6 regulates osmotic and heat stress tolerance by modulating transcription

Provisionally accepted
Koya  KobayashiKoya Kobayashi1Yusuke  MurakoshiYusuke Murakoshi1Kazuki  KanamoriKazuki Kanamori1Jun  HidemaJun Hidema2Goro  MasudaGoro Masuda3Keisuke  TanakaKeisuke Tanaka3Izumi  YotsuiIzumi Yotsui1Yoichi  SakataYoichi Sakata1Teruaki  TajiTeruaki Taji1*
  • 1Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan
  • 2Research Center for Space Agriculture and Horticulture, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
  • 3NODAI Genome Center, Tokyo, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a critical mechanism for repairing DNA damage, including UV-induced lesions and chemically induced adducts. The UVH6 gene encodes a subunit of the transcription factor IIH complex and is essential for both NER and transcription initiation. In Arabidopsis thaliana, UVH6 mutations impair DNA repair, enhance UV sensitivity, and decrease heat stress tolerance. We here isolated acquired osmotolerance– defective12 (aod12) mutant derived from osmotolerant Bu-5 accession; this mutant had pale green leaves and was osmosensitive and heat sensitive. Genetic and molecular analyses revealed that a mutation in UVH6 underlies these phenotypes of aod12. RNA sequencing demonstrated that UVH6 is necessary for appropriate transcriptional responses under osmotic stress, as expression of some stress-response genes was altered in aod12. Expression of pathogenesis-related genes and cell death were increased, indicating that immune responses detrimental to osmotolerance were activated. Interestingly, UVH6-mediated osmotolerance was independent of its canonical DNA repair function, as other NER-related mutants (xpf, xpg, ercc1) were not osmosensitive. Signaling pathways involving UVR8 and SOG1 were not implicated in UVH6 mutation–induced immune responses, suggesting a novel regulatory mechanism linking transcriptional control and stress tolerance. This study highlights UVH6 as a key integrator of genome stability, transcription, and stress resilience in plants.

Keywords: osmotic stress response, Heat stress response, DNA Damage, transcription, Arabidopsis thaliana accession

Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Kobayashi, Murakoshi, Kanamori, Hidema, Masuda, Tanaka, Yotsui, Sakata and Taji. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Teruaki Taji, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Tokyo, Japan

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