title: WRKY40 and WRKY6 act downstream of the green leaf volatile E-2-hexenal in Arabidopsis.
abstract: Plants are known to be responsive to volatiles, but knowledge about the molecular players involved in transducing their perception remains scarce. We study the response of Arabidopsis thaliana to E-2-hexenal, one of the green leaf volatiles (GLV) that is produced upon wounding, herbivory or infection with pathogens. We have taken a transcriptomics approach to identify genes that are induced by E-2-hexenal, but not by defence hormones or other GLVs. Furthermore, by studying the promoters of early E-2-hexenal-induced genes we determined that the only statistically enriched cis-element was the W-box motif. Since members of the plant-specific family of WRKY transcription factors act in trans on this cis-element, we focused on WRKY6, 40 and 53 that were most strongly induced by E-2-hexenal. Root elongation of Arabidopsis seedlings of the wrky40 wrky6 double mutant was much less inhibited than in wt plants, similar to the E-2-hexenal-responsive mutant her1, which is perturbed in γ-amino butyric acid (GABA) metabolism. The induction of several of the E-2-hexenal-specific genes was much higher in the wrky40, wrky6 or wrky40 wrky6 mutants, including GAD4, a glutamate decarboxylase that catalyzes the formation of GABA from glutamate. In conclusion, WRKY6 and 40 seem to act as important players transducing E-2-hexenal perception.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rossana
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mirabella
authors.affiliation: MAD, Dutch Genomics Service & Support Provider, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rauwerda
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Silke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Allmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Scala
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Eleni A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Spyropoulou
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Vries
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maaike R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Boersma
authors.affiliation: MAD, Dutch Genomics Service & Support Provider, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Timo M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Breit
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Michel A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Haring
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Physiology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, Amsterdam, 1098 XH, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Schuurink
mesh_terms: D000447:Aldehydes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000187:drug effects; D009154:Mutation; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000447:Aldehydes; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C512070:WRKY40 protein, Arabidopsis; C446285:WRKY6 protein, Arabidopsis; C051750:2-hexenal; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid
keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; E-2-hexenal; green leaf volatiles; markers; transcription factors