CaWRKY2, a chili pepper transcription factor, is rapidly induced by incompatible plant pathogens.
WRKY family proteins are a class of plant-specific transcription factors involved in stress response signaling pathways. In this study a gene encoding a putative WRKY protein was isolated from a pepper EST database (http://genepool.kribb.re.kr). The cDNA, named Capsicum annuum WRKY2 (CaWRKY2), encodes a putative polypeptide of 548 amino acids, containing two WRKY domains with zinc finger motifs and two potential nuclear localization signals. Northern blot analyses showed that CaWRKY2 mRNA was preferentially induced during incompatible interactions of pepper plants with PMMoV, Pseudomonas syringae pv. syringae 61, and Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. vesicatoria race 3. Furthermore, CaWRKY2 transcripts were strongly induced by wounding and ethephon treatment, whereas only moderate expression was detected following treatment with salicylic acid and jasmonic acid. CaWRKY2 was translocated to the nucleus when a CaWRKY2-smGFP fusion construct was expressed in onion epidermal cells. CaWRKY2 also had transcriptional activation activity in yeast. Taken together our data suggest that CaWRKY2 is a pathogen-inducible transcription factor that may have a role in early defense responses to biotic and abiotic stresses.
Oh
Sang-Keun
SK
Plant Genome Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Daejeon 305-600, Korea.
Yi
So Young
SY
Yu
Seung Hun
SH
Moon
Jae Sun
JS
Park
Jeong Mee
JM
Choi
Doil
D
D000085:Acetates / Q000494:pharmacology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002212:Capsicum / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003517:Cyclopentanes / Q000494:pharmacology; D017343:Genes, Plant / Q000502:physiology; D018745:Genome, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds / Q000494:pharmacology; D054883:Oxylipins; D010935:Plant Diseases; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D044224:Pseudomonas syringae / Q000472:pathogenicity; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D020156:Salicylic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D014974:Xanthomonas / Q000472:pathogenicity; D044184:Xanthomonas vesicatoria / Q000472:pathogenicity
D000085:Acetates; D003517:Cyclopentanes; D009943:Organophosphorus Compounds; D054883:Oxylipins; D010940:Plant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C072239:methyl jasmonate; D020156:Salicylic Acid; C005073:ethephon