Promoter specificity and deletion analysis of three heat stress transcription factors of tomato.

Transient expression assays in transformed tobacco (Nicotiana plumbaginifolia) mesophyll protoplasts were used to test the activity of three tomato heat stress transcription factors, HSF24, HSF8 and HSF30, in a trans-activation and a trans-repression assay. The results document differences between the three HSFs with respect to their response to the configuration of heat stress promoter elements (HSEs) in the reporter construct (promoter specificity) and to the stress regime used for activation. Analysis of C-terminal deletions identified acidic sequence elements with a central tryptophan residue, which are important for HSF activity control. Surprisingly, heterologous HSFs from Drosophila and human cells, but not from yeast, were also functional as heat stress-induced transcription factors in this tobacco protoplast system.