TaWRKY68 responses to biotic stresses are revealed by the orthologous genes from major cereals

Genetics and Molecular Biology

Bo Ding²  Junbin Wang¹  Na Song¹  Ming Li²  Qiaolin Cheng²  Guozhong Huang²  Yaolin Guo²  Yang Fu²  Chaojie Xie¹  Qixin Sun¹  Xiaodong Xie² 

[1] ,Tianjin Agricultural University Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops Tianjin,China

关键词: wheat;    TaWRKY68;    Orthologous genes;    genevestigator;    gene functions;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1415-47572014000100013

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

WRKY transcription factors have been extensively characterized in the past 20 years, but in wheat, studies onWRKY genes and their function are lagging behind many other species. To explore the function of wheat WRKY genes, we identified a TaWRKY68 gene from a common wheat cultivar. It encodes a protein comprising 313 amino acids which harbors 19 conserved motifs or active sites. Gene expression patterns were determined by analyzing microarray data of TaWRKY68 in wheat and of orthologous genes from maize, rice and barley using Genevestigator. TaWRKY68 orthologs were identified and clustered using DELTA-BLAST and COBALT programs available at NCBI. The results showed that these genes, which are expressed in all tissues tested, had relatively higher levels in the roots and were up-regulated in response to biotic stresses. Bioinformatics results were confirmed by RT-PCR experiments using wheat plants infected by Agrobacterium tumefaciens and Blumeria graminis, or treated with Deoxynivalenol, a Fusarium graminearum-induced mycotoxin in wheat or barley. In summary,TaWRKY68 functions differ during plant developmental stages and might be representing a hub gene function in wheat responses to various biotic stresses. It was also found that including data from major cereal genes in the bioinformatics analysis gave more accurate and comprehensive predictions of wheat gene functions.

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