%0 Journal Article
%T Roles of arabidopsis WRKY18, WRKY40 and WRKY60 transcription factors in plant responses to abscisic acid and abiotic stress
%A Han Chen
%A Zhibing Lai
%A Junwei Shi
%A Yong Xiao
%A Zhixiang Chen
%A Xinping Xu
%J BMC Plant Biology
%D 2010
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1471-2229-10-281
%X We report that the three WRKYs are involved in plant responses to abscisic acid (ABA) and abiotic stress. Through analysis of single, double, and triple mutants and overexpression lines for the WRKY genes, we have shown that WRKY18 and WRKY60 have a positive effect on plant ABA sensitivity for inhibition of seed germination and root growth. The same two WRKY genes also enhance plant sensitivity to salt and osmotic stress. WRKY40, on the other hand, antagonizes WRKY18 and WRKY60 in the effect on plant sensitivity to ABA and abiotic stress in germination and growth assays. Both WRKY18 and WRKY40 are rapidly induced by ABA, while induction of WRKY60 by ABA is delayed. ABA-inducible expression of WRKY60 is almost completely abolished in the wrky18 and wrky40 mutants. WRKY18 and WRKY40 recognize a cluster of W-box sequences in the WRKY60 promoter and activate WRKY60 expression in protoplasts. Thus, WRKY60 might be a direct target gene of WRKY18 and WRKY40 in ABA signaling. Using a stable transgenic reporter/effector system, we have shown that both WRKY18 and WRKY60 act as weak transcriptional activators while WRKY40 is a transcriptional repressor in plant cells.We propose that the three related WRKY transcription factors form a highly interacting regulatory network that modulates gene expression in both plant defense and stress responses by acting as either transcription activator or repressor.Plants are constantly exposed to a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses and have evolved intricate mechanisms to sense and respond to the adverse conditions. Phytohormones such as salicylic acid (SA), ethylene (ET), jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) play important roles in the regulation of plant responses to the adverse environmental conditions. In Arabidopsis, mutants deficient in SA biosynthesis (e.g. sid2) or signalling (e.g. npr1) exhibit enhanced susceptibility to biotrophic pathogens, which parasitize on plant living tissue [1,2]. ET- and JA-mediated signaling pat
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2229/10/281