Abstract
WRKY proteins are transcriptional regulators involved in plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses, metabolisms, and developmental processes. In the present study, we isolated a WRKY cDNA, OsWRKY89 from a rice cDNA library. The deduced polypeptide contains 263 amino acid residues with a potential leucine zipper structure in its N-terminus, sharing low identity with other known WRKY members. OsWRKY89 and three deletion derivatives from its N-terminal were expressed in high levels in Escherichia coli as a C-terminally six-histidine-tagged fusion protein, and purified by employing one-step affinity chromatography on a Ni-NTA column. The recombinant OsWRKY89 protein was found to bind specially to sequences harboring W box cis elements by using electrophoretic mobility shift assays. This binding activity was decreased significantly by deletion of the leucine zipper-like structure in the N-terminal of Os-WRKY89. Using a yeast two-hybrid assay system, we found that the leucine zipper motif of OsWRKY89 was involved in the protein-protein interaction. Further deletion to remove partial WRKY domain abolished completely the interaction between the expressed protein and the W boxes, indicating that the WRKY domain is essential to the DNA-binding. These data strongly suggest that the leucine zipper-like motif of OsWRKY89 plays a significant role in the protein-protein and DNA-protein interactions.
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Haihua, W., Zhongna, H., Ke, X. et al. Leucine zipper like structure in rice WRKY89 enhances its affinity for binding with W box elements. Chin.Sci.Bull. 50, 980–989 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1360/982005-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/982005-5