A novel tomato MYC-type ICE1-like transcription factor, SlICE1a, confers cold, osmotic and salt tolerance in transgenic tobacco

ICE1 (inducer of CBF expression 1), a MYC-type bHLH transcription factor, is an important activator of CBF3/DREB1A for regulating cold signaling and stress tolerance. In this study, we isolated the novel ICE1-like gene SlICE1a from tomato which contains the conserved bHLH domain, an S-rich motif, and ACT-domain. It is localized in the nucleus and harbors transcription-activating activity in the N-terminal. In addition, the SlICE1a transcript is slightly upregulated by cold stress, salt stress, and osmotic stress. SlICE1a overexpression in tobacco enhances the induction of CBF/DREB and their target genes, consequently increasing the levels of proline, soluble sugars, and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins, and enhancing tolerance to cold stress, osmotic stress, and salt stress. SlICE1a functions in abiotic stress responses by regulating the expression of stress-tolerant genes, and is thus beneficial for crop improvement.