A group of WRKY transcription factors form a protein complex with PHD-containing proteins to repress the transcription of stress responsive genes [RNA-Seq]

ABSTRACT: In higher plants, WRKY is a large transcription factor family involved in multiple biological processes by mediating either transcriptional activation or repression. Although the conserved WRKY domain is known to mediate the binding of WRKY transcription factors to DNA, little is known about how the other domains are involved in the regulation of transcription. We find that the group IId WRKY transcription factors interact with PHD-containing OBE proteins and form redundant WRKY-OBE complexes in Arabidopsis thaliana. We find that a conserved coiled-coil motif in the group IId WRKY transcription factors functions as an OBE-interacting domain (OID), which is involved in transcriptional repression and target gene selection. The WRKY-OBE complexes mediate transcriptional repression at a large number of stress responsive genes and are required for maintaining normal plant growth and development. While the growth of high order of wrky mutants is retarded at the early seedling stage, the low order of wrky mutants show reduced plant height and increased drought tolerance, which is consistent with the increased expression of stress responsive genes, including DREB1A, DREB1B, and DREB1C. Moreover, we found that the expression levels of most of group IId WRKY genes are markedly reduced in drought stress conditions relative to non-stress conditions. These results together suggest that the WRKY-OBE repress the transcription of stress responsive genes primarily under non-stress conditions, thereby coordinating plant growth and drought stress tolerance under variable environmental conditions.

ORGANISM(S): Arabidopsis thaliana

PROVIDER: GSE221658 | GEO | 2023/07/09

REPOSITORIES: GEO