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GhWRKY25, a group I WRKY gene from cotton, confers differential tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses in transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana

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Abstract

WRKY transcription factors are involved in various processes, ranging from plant growth to abiotic and biotic stress responses. Group I WRKY members have been rarely reported compared with group II or III members, particularly in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum). In this study, a group I WRKY gene, namely, GhWRKY25, was cloned from cotton and characterized. Expression analysis revealed that GhWRKY25 can be induced or deduced by the treatments of abiotic stresses and multiple defense-related signaling molecules. Overexpression of GhWRKY25 in Nicotiana benthamiana reduced plant tolerance to drought stress but enhanced tolerance to salt stress. Moreover, more MDA and ROS accumulated in transgenic plants after drought treatment with lower activities of SOD, POD, and CAT. Our study further demonstrated that GhWRKY25 overexpression in plants enhanced sensitivity to the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea by reducing the expression of SA or ET signaling related genes and inducing the expression of genes involved in the JA signaling pathway. These results indicated that GhWRKY25 plays negative or positive roles in response to abiotic stresses, and the reduced pathogen resistance may be related to the crosstalk of the SA and JA/ET signaling pathways.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (No. 31272113) of China.

Compliance with ethical standards

Human participants and/or animals are not involved in this research.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

FW and CZ conceived and designed the experiments; XL and YS performed the experiments; XL analyzed the data; FX and NW contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools; XL wrote the paper; FW and CZ proofread the paper and gave the final approval.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Biology, College of Life Sciences, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, Shandong, 271018, People’s Republic of China

    Xiufang Liu, Yunzhi Song, Fangyu Xing, Ning Wang, Fujiang Wen & Changxiang Zhu

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  1. Xiufang Liu
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  2. Yunzhi Song
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  3. Fangyu Xing
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  4. Ning Wang
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Correspondence to Changxiang Zhu.

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Handling Editor: Liwen Jiang

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Liu, X., Song, Y., Xing, F. et al. GhWRKY25, a group I WRKY gene from cotton, confers differential tolerance to abiotic and biotic stresses in transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana . Protoplasma 253, 1265–1281 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00709-015-0885-3

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