title: WRKY13 acts in stem development in Arabidopsis thaliana.
abstract: Stems are important for plants to grow erectly. In stems, sclerenchyma cells must develop secondary cell walls to provide plants with physical support. The secondary cell walls are mainly composed of lignin, xylan and cellulose. Deficiency of overall stem development could cause weakened stems. Here we prove that WRKY13 acts in stem development. The wrky13 mutants take on a weaker stem phenotype. The number of sclerenchyma cells, stem diameter and the number of vascular bundles were reduced in wrky13 mutants. Lignin-synthesis-related genes were repressed in wrky13 mutants. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays proved that WRKY13 could directly bind to the promoter of NST2. Taken together, we proposed that WRKY13 affected the overall development of stem. Identification of the role of WRKY13 may help to resolve agricultural problems caused by weaker stems.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China; Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230027, China.
authors.forename: Zhaoxia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China. Electronic address: ydq@xtbg.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Diqiu
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002473:Cell Wall / Q000378:metabolism; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008031:Lignin / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D018547:Plant Stems / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C510499:NST2 protein, Arabidopsis; D014157:Transcription Factors; C000605311:WRKY13 protein, Arabidopsis; D008031:Lignin
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; Lignin; Sclerenchyma; WRKY13; Weaker stems