Heterologous Expression of Dehydration-Inducible MfWRKY17 of Myrothamnus Flabellifolia Confers Drought and Salt Tolerance in Arabidopsis

International Journal of Molecular Sciences

Zhuo Huang¹  Han-Du Guo¹  Si-Han Jin¹  Ling Liu¹  Pei-Lei Zhu¹  Ya-Ping Zhang²  Cai-Zhong Jiang² 

[1] College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Wenjiang 611130, Sichuan, China;Department of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA;

关键词: Myrothamnus flabellifolia;    resurrection plant;    drought tolerance;    gene function;    molecular mechanism;    WRKY transcription factor;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijms21134603

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

: As the only woody resurrection plant, Myrothamnus flabellifolia has a strong tolerance to drought and can survive long-term in a desiccated environment. However, the molecular mechanisms related to the stress tolerance of M. flabellifolia are largely unknown, and few tolerance-related genes previously identified had been functionally characterized. WRKYs are a group of unique and complex plant transcription factors, and have reported functions in diverse biological processes, especially in the regulation of abiotic stress tolerances, in various species. However, little is known about their roles in response to abiotic stresses in M. flabellifolia. In this study, we characterized a dehydration-inducible WRKY transcription factor gene, MfWRKY17, from M. flabellifolia. MfWRKY17 shows high degree of homology with genes from Vitis vinifera and Vitis pseudoreticulata, belonging to group II of the WRKY family. Unlike known WRKY17s in other organisms acting as negative regulators in biotic or abiotic stress responses, overexpression of MfWRKY17 in Arabidopsis significantly increased drought and salt tolerance. Further investigations indicated that MfWRKY17 participated in increasing water retention, maintaining chlorophyll content, and regulating ABA biosynthesis and stress-related gene expression. These results suggest that MfWRKY17 possibly acts as a positive regulator of stress tolerance in the resurrection plant M. flabellifolia.

【 授权许可】

Unknown