Rice NAC proteins act as homodimers and heterodimers

Members of the NAM-ATAF-CUC (NAC) protein family are plant-specific transcription factors that contain a highly conserved N-terminal NAC-domain and diverse C-terminal regions. They have been implicated in plant development and abiotic stress responses. To identify interacters of rice NAC-domain proteins (OsNACs), we performed yeast two-hybrid screening of rice cDNA library using OsNAC5 as a bait, and the results showed that OsNAC5 interacts with other OsNACs including itself. To delineate an interacting domain, a series of deletion constructs of four OsNACs were made and transformed into yeast in various combinations. The results revealed that the conserved NAC domain of OsNACs plays a primary role in homodimer and heterodimer formation, and a part of C-terminal sequence is also necessary for the interaction. In vitro pull-down assays using recombinant OsNAC proteins verified the dimer formations, together suggesting that OsNACs may act by forming homodimers and/or heterodimers in plants.