Abstract
WRKY proteins are a superfamily of plant transcriptional factors with potential regulatory roles pertaining to a variety of biotic and abiotic stress responses. In this study, we investigated the expression profiles of OsWRKY23 under different developmental stages, pathogen infection, continuous-dark and hormone treatments. Under normal growth conditions, OsWRKY23 expressed exclusively in roots and senescing leaves. Under biotic and abiotic stresses treatments, OsWRKY23 was markedly induced by continuous-dark-induced leaf senescence and infection by rice pathogen Pyricularia oryzae Cav as well as salicylic acid (SA). Further analysis of 35S:OsWRK23 Arabidopsis plants showed that over-expression of OsWRKY23 resulted in enhanced expression of the pathogenesis-related (PR) genes and increased resistance to the bacterial pathogen Pseudomanas syringae. Furthermore, over-expression of OsWRKY23 accelerated leaf senescence in darkness. The senescence-associated marker genes SAG12 and SEN1 were altered in darkness in 35S:WRKY23 Arabidopsis plants. In conclusion, these results suggest that OsWRKY23 is a novel modulator of pathogen responses as well as dark-induced leaf senescence.
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Abbreviations
- ABA:
-
Abscisic acid
- ACC:
-
1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid
- ET:
-
Ethylene
- HR:
-
Hypersensitive response
- JA:
-
Jasmonate
- MAPK:
-
Mitogen-activated protein kinase
- MeJA:
-
Methyl jasmonic acid
- PAMPs:
-
Pathogen-associated molecular patterns
- PCD:
-
Programmed cell death
- PR:
-
Pathogenesis related
- SA:
-
Salicylic acid
- SAR:
-
Systemic acquired resistance
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to Dr. Zhixiang Chen (Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA) and Mr. Eric McDowell (Department of Plant Sciences, University of Arizona) for critically reading the manuscript. We would like to thank National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences of Japan for rice cDNA clones.
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10725_2009_9366_MOESM2_ESM.tif
Supplementary Fig. 1 Normal responses of 35S:WRKY23 plants to Botrytis cinerea. (a) Disease responses of drop-inoculated plants at 7 days. (b) Expression of PDF1.2 during Botrytis cinerea infection (TIFF 19237 kb)
10725_2009_9366_MOESM1_ESM.tif
Supplementary Fig. 2 Normal responses of 35S:WRKY23 plants to ACC treatment. (a) Images taken at 4 and 10 days after ACC spraying. (b) Expression of SAG12 and SEN1 during ACC-induced senescence (TIFF 10313 kb)
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Jing, S., Zhou, X., Song, Y. et al. Heterologous expression of OsWRKY23 gene enhances pathogen defense and dark-induced leaf senescence in Arabidopsis . Plant Growth Regul 58, 181–190 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-009-9366-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-009-9366-z