HSFA2 — Arabidopsis thaliana

Summary

AT2G26150 (HSFA2) on Arabidopsis thaliana chromosome 2 encodes a heat shock transcription factor A2, a DNA-binding protein with a winged helix-turn-helix domain that acts as a sequence-specific transcription factor. It is associated with thermotolerance, oxidative stress tolerance, and the cytosolic protein response, and has been linked to galactinol and raffinose biosynthesis, transposon activation, and thermomorphogenesis. The gene is associated with numerous agronomic traits including seed yield, harvest index, drought tolerance, salt tolerance, disease tolerance, chlorophyll content, flowering time, germination rate, pollen fertility, and seed longevity. It localizes to the nucleus, cytosol, membrane, and cell wall, and is associated with processes such as cellular response to unfolded protein, macroautophagy, and mRNA transcription. Studies of related genes in other species link the family to heat stress response and heat tolerance.