Abstract
Cadmium (Cd) stress has a major impact on ecosystems, so it is important to find suitable Cd-tolerant plants while elucidating the responsible molecular mechanism for phytoremediation to manage Cd soil contamination. Iris lactea var. chinensis is an ornamental perennial groundcover plant with strong tolerance to Cd. Previous studies found that IlAP2, an AP2/ERF superfamily gene, may be an interacting partner of the metallothionein gene IlMT2a, which plays a key role in Cd tolerance. To study the role of IlAP2 in regulating Cd tolerance in I. lactea, we analyzed its regulation function and mechanism based on a yeast two-hybrid assay, a bimolecular fluorescence complementation test, quantitative real-time PCR, transgenics and transcriptome sequencing. The results showed that IlAP2 interacts with IlMT2a and may cooperate with other transcription factors to regulate genes involved in signal transduction and plant hormones, leading to reduced Cd toxicity by hindering Cd transport. These findings provide insights into the mechanism of IlAP2-mediated stress responses to Cd and important gene resources for improving plant stress tolerance in phytoremediation.