Homeodomain leucine zipper proteins bind to the phosphate response domain of the soybean VspB tripartite promoter.

The soybean (Glycine max L. Merr. cv Williams 82) genes VspA and VspB encode vacuolar glycoprotein acid phosphatases that serve as vegetative storage proteins during seed fill and early stages of seedling growth. VspB expression is activated by jasmonates (JAs) and sugars and down-regulated by phosphate and auxin. Previous promoter studies demonstrated that VspB promoter sequences between -585 and -535 mediated responses to JA, and sequences between -535 and -401 mediated responses to sugars, phosphate, and auxin. In this study, the response domains were further delineated using transient expression of VspB promoter-beta-glucuronidase constructs in tobacco protoplasts. Sequences between -536 and -484 were identified as important for phosphate responses, whereas the region from -486 to -427 mediated sugar responses. Gel-shift and deoxyribonuclease-I footprinting assays revealed four DNA-binding sites between -611 and -451 of the soybean VspB promoter: one in the JA response domain, two in the phosphate response domain, and one binding site in the sugar response domain. The sequence CATTAATTAG present in the phosphate response domain binds soybean homeodomain leucine zipper proteins, suggesting a role for these transcription factors in phosphate-modulated gene expression.