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WRKY transcription factors and OBERON histone-binding proteins form complexes to balance plant growth and stress tolerance

ABSTRACT: WRKY transcription factors in plants are known to be able to mediate either transcriptional activation or repression, but the mechanism regulating their transcriptional activity is largely unclear. We found that group IId WRKY transcription factors interact with OBERON (OBE) proteins, forming redundant WRKY-OBE complexes in Arabidopsis thaliana. The coiled-coil domain of WRKY transcription factors binds to OBE proteins and is responsible for target gene selection and transcriptional repression. The PHD finger of OBE proteins binds to both histones and WRKY transcription factors. WRKY-OBE complexes repress the transcription of numerous stress-responsive genes and are required for maintaining normal plant growth. Several wrky and obe mutants show reduced plant size and increased drought tolerance, accompanied by increased expression of stress-responsive genes. Moreover, expression levels of most of these WRKY and OBE genes are reduced in response to drought stress, revealing a previously uncharacterized regulatory mechanism of the drought stress response. These results suggest that WRKY-OBE complexes repress transcription of stress-responsive genes, and thereby balance plant growth and stress tolerance.

SUBMITTER: Ping Du

PROVIDER: S-SCDT-10_15252-EMBJ_2023113639 | biostudies-other |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:BackgroundWheat, a crucial food crop in China, is highly vulnerable to drought stress throughout its growth and development. WRKY transcription factors (TFs), being one of the largest families of TFs, play a vital role in responding to various abiotic stresses in plants.ResultsHere, we cloned and characterized the TF TaWRKY31 isolated from wheat. This TF, belonging to the WRKY II family, contains a WRKYGQK amino acid sequence and a C2H2-type zinc finger structure. TaWRKY31 exhibits tissue-specific expression and demonstrates responsiveness to abiotic stresses in wheat. TaWRKY31 protein is localized in the nucleus and can function as a TF with transcription activating activity at the N-terminus. Results showed that the wheat plants with silenced strains (BSMV:TaWRKY31-1as and BSMV:TaWRKY31-2as) exhibited poor growth status and low relative water content when subjected to drought treatment. Moreover, the levels of O2·-, H2O2, and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the BSMV:TaWRKY31-induced wheat plants increased, while the activities of antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase) decreased. Compared to control plants, BSMV:TaWRKY31-induced wheat plants exhibited lower expression levels of TaSOD (Fe), TaPOD, TaCAT, TaDREB1, TaP5CS, TaNCED1, TaSnRK2, TaPP2C, and TaPYL5.Under stress or drought treatment conditions, the overexpression of TaWRKY31 in Arabidopsis resulted in decreased levels of H2O2 and MDA, as well as reduced stomatal opening and water loss. Furthermore, an increase in resistance oxidase activity, germination rate, and root length in the TaWRKY31 transgenic Arabidopsis was observed. Lastly, overexpression of TaWRKY31 in Arabidopsis resulted in higher the expression levels of AtNCED3, AtABA2, AtSnRK2.2, AtABI1, AtABF3, AtP5CS1, AtSOD (Cu/Zn), AtPOD, AtCAT, AtRD29A, AtRD29B, and AtDREB2A than in control plants.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that TaWRKY31 enhances drought resistance in plants by promoting the scavenging of reactive oxygen species, reducing stomatal opening, and increasing the expression levels of stress-related genes.

Project description:BackgroundThe tryptophan-arginine-lysine-tyrosine (WRKY) transcription factors play important roles in plants, allowing them to adapt to environmental conditions that are not normally conducive to plant growth; in particular, drought. There has been extensive research on WRKY transcription factors and the effects of their overexpression in plants on resistance to drought stress. However, due to the materials (the type and species of donor and receptor, promoters) and treatments (the type and time of stress) used, different and often confounding results have been obtained between studies. Meta-analysis is a powerful statistical tool that can be used to summarize results from numerous independent experiments on the same research topic while accounting for variability across experiments.ResultsWe carried out a meta-analysis of 16 measured parameters that affect drought resistance in plants overexpressing WRKY transcription factors and wild-type plants. We found that only one of these parameters was significantly different between transgenic and wild-type plants under drought and control conditions at a 95% confidence interval (p = 0.000, p = 0.009, respectively). Eleven of the sixteen parameters were obviously different in WRKY transgenic plants under drought and control conditions (SV, p = 0.023, SSC, p = 0.000, SOD, p = 0.012, SFW, p = 0.000, RL, p = 0.016, Pro, p = 0.000, POD, p = 0.027, MDA, p = 0.000, H2O2, p = 0.003, EL, p = 0.000, CHC, p = 0.000, respectively), seven of the eleven obviously different parameters showed positive effect (SSC, SOD, Pro, POD, MDA, H2O2, EL), four of them revealed negative effect (SV, SFW, RL, CHC).ConclusionWe have found that only one of these parameters was significantly different between transgenic and wild-type plants under drought and control conditions respectively, at a 95% confidence interval. And eleven of sixteen parameters showed obviously different of WRKY-overexpressed plants under different conditions (water-stressed and normal), suggesting that WRKY transcription factors play an important role in plant responses to drought stress. These findings also provide a theoretical basis for further study of the role of WRKY transcription factors in the regulation of plant responses to environmental stress.

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WRKY transcription factors and OBERON histone-binding proteins form complexes to balance plant growth and stress tolerance

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