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LcWRKY5: an unknown function gene from sheepgrass improves drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Key message

The expression of LcWRKY5 was induced significantly by salinity, mannitol and cutting treatments. Arabidopsis- overexpressing LcWRKY5 greatly increased dehydration tolerance by regulating the expression of multiple stress-responsive genes.

Abstract

Based on the data of sheepgrass 454 high-throughout sequencing and expression analysis results, a drought-induced gene LcWRKY5 was isolated and cloned, and the biological role of the gene has not been reported until now. Bioinformatics analysis showed that LcWRKY5 contains one conserved WD domain and belongs to the group II WRKY protein family. LcWRKY5 shows high sequence identity with predicted or putative protein products of Hordeum vulgare, Aegilops tauschii, Triticum aestivum, Brachypodium distachyon, Oryza sativa, but it has low homology with WRKYs from dicotyledonous plants. Several drought-inducibility, fungal elicitor, MeJA-responsiveness, endosperm, light, anoxic specific inducibility, and circadian control elements were found in the promoter region of LcWRKY5. Tissue-specific expression patterns showed that LcWRKY5 is expressed in roots and leaves, without expression in other tissues. The expression of LcWRKY5 was induced significantly under salinity and mannitol stresses but was not notably changed under cold and Abscisic acid stress. The LcWRKY5 protein exhibits transcription activation activity in the yeast one-hybrid system. Overexpressing LcWRKY5 exhibited increased rates of cotyledon greening and plant survival in transgenic Arabidopsis compared with wild-type plants under drought stress, and the expression levels of DREB2A and RD29A in transgenic plants were enhanced under drought stress. These results indicated that LcWRKY5 may play an important role in drought-response networks through regulation of the DREB2A pathway. LcWRKY5 can be a candidate gene for engineering drought tolerance in other crops.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

CaMV:

Cauliflower mosaic virus

DREB2A:

Dehydration-responsive element-binding protein 2A

GFP:

Green fluorescent protein

GUS:

b-Glucuronidase

MS:

Murashige and Skoog

ORF:

Open reading frame

RT–PCR:

Reverse transcription–PCR

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative RT-PCR

TAIL-PCR:

Thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (‘‘973’’, 2014CB138704), the Project of Ningxia 3 Agricultural Comprehensive Development Office (NTKJ-2013-03(1)), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170316), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (“863”, 2011AA100209), and the Ministry of Agriculture of China (2009ZX08009-097B).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100093, People’s Republic of China

    Tian Ma, Aiguo Zhao, Gongshe Liu & Liqin Cheng

  2. Agricultural College, Ning Xia University, Ningxia, 750021, People’s Republic of China

    Tian Ma & Xing Xu

  3. Department of Grassland Science, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People’s Republic of China

    Manli Li

Authors
  1. Tian Ma
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  2. Manli Li
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  3. Aiguo Zhao
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  4. Xing Xu
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  5. Gongshe Liu
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Gongshe Liu or Liqin Cheng.

Additional information

Communicated by Qiao Zhao.

T. Ma and M. Li contributed equally to this work.

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Ma, T., Li, M., Zhao, A. et al. LcWRKY5: an unknown function gene from sheepgrass improves drought tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis . Plant Cell Rep 33, 1507–1518 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-014-1634-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-014-1634-3

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