Hydrogen peroxide acts upstream of nitric oxide in the heat shock pathway in Arabidopsis seedlings.

We previously reported that nitric oxide (NO) functions as a signal in thermotolerance. To illustrate its relationship with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) in the tolerance of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) to heat shock (HS), we investigated the effects of heat on Arabidopsis seedlings of the following types: the wild type; three NADPH oxidase-defective mutants that exhibit reduced endogenous H₂O₂ levels (atrbohB, atrbohD, and atrbohB/D); and a mutant that is resistant to inhibition by fosmidomycin (noa1, for nitric oxide-associated protein1). After HS, the NO levels in atrbohB, atrbohD, and atrbohB/D seedlings were lower than that in wild-type seedlings. Treatment of the seedlings with sodium nitroprusside or S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine partially rescued their heat sensitivity, suggesting that NO is involved in H₂O₂ signaling as a downstream factor. This point was verified by phenotypic analyses and thermotolerance testing of transgenic seedlings that overexpressed Nitrate reductase2 and NOA1, respectively, in an atrbohB/D background. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays, western blotting, and real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that NO stimulated the DNA-binding activity of HS factors and the accumulation of HS proteins through H₂O₂. These data indicate that H₂O₂ acts upstream of NO in thermotolerance, which requires increased HS factor DNA-binding activity and HS protein accumulation.