BIIDXI, a DUF642 Cell Wall Protein That Regulates Pectin Methyl Esterase Activity, Is Involved in Thermotolerance Processes in .

Plant cell wall remodeling is an important process during plant responses to heat stress. Pectins, a group of cell wall polysaccharides with a great diversity of complex chemical structures, are also involved in heat stress responses. Enzymatic activity of the pectin methyl esterases, which remove methyl groups from pectins in the cell wall, is regulated by DUF642 proteins, as described in different plants, including and . Our results demonstrated that heat stress altered the expression of the DUF642 gene, . There was an important decrease in expression during the first hour of HS, followed by an increase at 24 h. -1 seedlings had less tolerance to heat stress but presented a normal heat stress response; and expressions were highly increased, as they were in WT seedlings. Thermopriming triggered changes in pectin methyl esterase activity in WT seedlings, while no increases in PME activity were detected in -1 seedlings at the same conditions. Taken together, our results suggest that BIIDXI is involved in thermotolerance via PME activation.