title: TaWRKY68 responses to biotic stresses are revealed by the orthologous genes from major cereals.
abstract: WRKY transcription factors have been extensively characterized in the past 20 years, but in wheat, studies on WRKY 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.
authors.affiliation: Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Sciences, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Junbin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology and Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China .
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Qiaolin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Guozhong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Yaolin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology and Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China .
authors.forename: Chaojie
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Agrobiotechnology and Key Laboratory of Crop Genomics and Genetic Improvement, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China .
authors.forename: Qixin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Tianjin-Bristol Research Centre for the Effects of Environmental Change on Crops, Tianjin Agricultural University, Tianjin, China .
authors.forename: Xiaodong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xie
keywords: Orthologous genes; TaWRKY68; gene functions; genevestigator; wheat