AP2/ERF Transcription Factors for Tolerance to Both Biotic and Abiotic Stress Factors in Plants

Plants usually encounter multifactorial stresses in which two or more abiotic and/or biotic stress factors are present simultaneously. Under multifactorial stress, plant growth and survival are severely reduced, even if the levels of each individual stress are very low. Therefore, discovering multifactorial stress tolerance mechanisms is important for coordinating plant growth and uncovering plant response to combinations of two or more stress conditions. AP2/ERF (APETALA2/ethylene responsive factor) transcription factors (TFs) affect different hormone signaling pathways to regulate diverse developmental processes and stress responses. AP2/ERF TFs have specific protein and gene interaction partners that participate in the regulation of the stress response. AP2/ERF TFs are involved in the regulation of gene expression by specifically binding to cis elements in the promoter region of target genes. In this review, we have summarized the mechanism of AP2/ERF TFs in multifactorial stress responses. We have reviewed the recent major developments regarding the regulation and function of these genes, highlighting their role in multifactorial stress tolerance in plants.