title: Expression of TaWRKY44, a wheat WRKY gene, in transgenic tobacco confers multiple abiotic stress tolerances.
abstract: The WRKY transcription factors have been reported to be involved in various plant physiological and biochemical processes. In this study, we successfully assembled 10 unigenes from expressed sequence tags (ESTs) of wheat and designated them as TaWRKY44-TaWRKY53, respectively. Among these genes, a subgroup I gene, TaWRKY44, was found to be upregulated by treatments with PEG6000, NaCl, 4°C, abscisic acid (ABA), H2O2 and gibberellin (GA). The TaWRKY44-GFP fusion protein was localized to the nucleus of onion epidermal cells, and TaWRKY44 was able to bind to the core DNA sequences of TTGACC and TTAACC in yeast. The N-terminal of TaWRKY44 showed transcriptional activation activity. Expression of TaWRKY44 in tobacco plants conferred drought and salt tolerance and transgenic tobacco exhibited a higher survival rate, relative water content (RWC), soluble sugar, proline and superoxide dismutase (SOD) content, as well as higher activities of catalase (CAT) and peroxidase (POD), but less ion leakage (IL), lower contents of malondialdehyde (MDA), and H2O2. In addition, expression of TaWRKY44 also increased the seed germination rate in the transgenic lines under osmotic stress conditions while exhibiting a lower H2O2 content and higher SOD, CAT, and POD activities. Expression of TaWRKY44 upregulated the expression of some reactive oxygen species (ROS)-related genes and stress-responsive genes in tobacco under osmotic stresses. These data demonstrate that TaWRKY44 may act as a positive regulator in drought/salt/osmotic stress responses by either efficient ROS elimination through direct or indirect activation of the cellular antioxidant systems or activation of stress-associated gene expression.
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Xiatian
authors: X
authors: Wang
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Jian
authors: J
authors: Zeng
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Li
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Xiaoli
authors: X
authors: Rong
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Jiutong
authors: J
authors: Sun
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Sun
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Miao
authors: M
authors: Li
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Lianzhe
authors: L
authors: Wang
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Ying
authors: Y
authors: Feng
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Ruihong
authors: R
authors: Chai
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Mingjie
authors: M
authors: Chen
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Junli
authors: J
authors: Chang
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Kexiu
authors: K
authors: Li
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Guangxiao
authors: G
authors: Yang
authors: The Genetic Engineering International Cooperation Base of Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Key Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Chinese Ministry of Education, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology Wuhan, China.
authors: Guangyuan
authors: G
authors: He
keywords: ROS elimination; WRKY; abiotic stress tolerance; antioxidant systems; stress-associated gene; wheat