title: Rice WRKY45 plays a crucial role in benzothiadiazole-inducible blast resistance.
abstract: Benzothiadiazole (BTH) is a so-called plant activator and protects plants from diseases by activating the salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway. By microarray screening, we identified BTH- and SA-inducible WRKY transcription factor (TF) genes that were upregulated within 3 h after BTH treatment. Overexpression of one of them, WRKY45, in rice (Oryza sativa) markedly enhanced resistance to rice blast fungus. RNA interference-mediated knockdown of WRKY45 compromised BTH-inducible resistance to blast disease, indicating that it is essential for BTH-induced defense responses. In a transient expression system, WRKY45 activated reporter gene transcription through W-boxes. Epistasis analysis suggested that WRKY45 acts in the SA signaling pathway independently of NH1, a rice ortholog of Arabidopsis thaliana NPR1, which distinguishes WRKY45 from known Arabidopsis WRKY TFs. Two defense-related genes, encoding a glutathione S-transferase and a cytochrome P450, were found to be regulated downstream of WRKY45 but were not regulated by NH1, consistent with the apparent independence of the WRKY45- and NH1-dependent pathways. Defense gene expression in WRKY45-overexpressed rice plants varied with growth conditions, suggesting that some environmental factor(s) acts downstream of WRKY45 transcription. We propose a role for WRKY45 in BTH-induced and SA-mediated defense signaling in rice and its potential utility in improving disease resistance of rice, an importance food resource worldwide.
authors.affiliation: Plant Disease Resistance Research Unit, National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences, Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shimono
authors.forename: Shoji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugano
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakayama
authors.forename: Chang-Jie
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Kazuko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Seiichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Toki
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takatsuji
mesh_terms: D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D007113:Immunity, Innate / Q000187:drug effects*; D008954:Models, Biological; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012275:Oryza / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D020156:Salicylic Acid / Q000494:pharmacology; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D013830:Thiadiazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D010940:Plant Proteins; D013830:Thiadiazoles; D014157:Transcription Factors; C053376:pathogenesis-related proteins, plant; C015700:benzo-1,2,3-thiadiazole; D020156:Salicylic Acid