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Functional characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY39 in heat stress

  • Published:
Molecules and Cells

Abstract

Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY39, a transcription factor that is induced by heat stress, is a member of the group II WRKY proteins and responds to both abiotic and biotic stress. Heat-treated seeds and plants of WRKY39 knock-down mutants had increased susceptibility to heat stress, showing reduced germination, decreased survival, and elevated electrolyte leakage compared with wild-type plants. In contrast, WRKY39 over-expressing plants exhibited enhanced thermotolerance compared with wild-type plants. RT-PCR and qRT-PCR analysis of wrky39 mutants and WRKY39 over-expressing plants identified putative genes regulated by WRKY39. Consistent with a role for WRKY39 in heat tolerance, the expression levels of salicylic acid (SA)-regulated PR1 and SA-related MBF1c genes were downregulated in wrky39 mutants. In contrast, over-expression of WRKY39 increased the expression of PR1 and MBF1c. The WRKY39 transcript was induced in response to treatment with SA or methyljasmonate. Analysis of heat stress-induced WRKY39 in defense signaling mutants, including coi1, ein2, and sid2, further indicated that WRKY39 was positively co-regulated by the SA and jasmonate (JA) signaling pathways. Together, these findings reveal that heat stress-induced WRKY39 positively regulates the cooperation between the SA- and JA-activated signaling pathways that mediate responses to heat stress.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Shujia Li & Weidong Huang

  2. Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, 650223, China

    Shujia Li, Xiang Zhou, Ligang Chen & Diqiu Yu

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  1. Shujia Li
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  2. Xiang Zhou
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  3. Ligang Chen
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  4. Weidong Huang
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Correspondence to Weidong Huang or Diqiu Yu.

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Li, S., Zhou, X., Chen, L. et al. Functional characterization of Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY39 in heat stress. Mol Cells 29, 475–483 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10059-010-0059-2

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