The over-expression of a chrysanthemum WRKY transcription factor enhances aphid resistance

AbstractTanshinones, one group of bioactive diterpenes, were widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. WRKYs play important roles in plant metabolism, but their regulation mechanism in S. miltiorrhiza remains elusive. In this study, one WRKY transcription factor SmWRKY1 was isolated and characterized from S. miltiorrhiza. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree analysis showed SmWRKY1 shared high homology with other plant WRKYs such as CrWRKY1. SmWRKY1 were predominantly expressed in leaves and stems, and was responsive to salicylic acid (SA), methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and nitric oxide (NO) treatment. Subcellular localization analysis found that SmWRKY1 was localized in the nucleus. Over-expression of SmWRKY1 significantly elevated the transcripts of genes involved in MEP pathway especially 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase (SmDXS) and 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase (SmDXR), resulted in over 6 folds increase in tanshinones production in transgenic lines (up to 13.731mg/g dry weight (DW)) compared with the control lines. Dual-luciferase (Dual-LUC) assay showed that SmWRKY1 can positively regulate SmDXR expression by binding to its promoter. Our work revealed that SmWRKY1 participated in the regulation of tanshinones biosynthesis and acted as a positive regulator through activating SmDXR in the MEP pathway, thus discloses a new insight to further excavate the regulation mechanism of tanshinones biosynthesis.

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Over-expression of a WRKY transcription factor gene BoWRKY6 enhances resistance to downy mildew in transgenic broccoli plants

Australasian Plant Pathology ◽

10.1007/s13313-016-0416-5 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 45 (3) ◽

pp. 327-334 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Ming Jiang ◽

Qing-e Liu ◽

Zhen-Ning Liu ◽

Jin-Zhi Li ◽

Cai-Ming He

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Downy Mildew ◽

Wrky Transcription Factor ◽

Transcription Factor Gene ◽

Factor Gene ◽

Over Expression ◽

Transgenic Broccoli

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In silico genome-wide identification and phylogenetic analysis of the WRKY transcription factor family in sweet orange (Citrus sinensis)

Australian Journal of Crop Science ◽

10.21475/ajcs.17.11.06.p471 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 11 (06) ◽

pp. 716-726 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Eduardo Goiano da Silva ◽

◽

Tania Mayumi Ito ◽

Silvia Graciele Hülse de Souza ◽

◽

...

Keyword(s):

Phylogenetic Analysis ◽

Transcription Factor ◽

In Silico ◽

Citrus Sinensis ◽

Sweet Orange ◽

Wrky Transcription Factor ◽

Transcription Factor Family ◽

Genome Wide

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The transcription factor OpWRKY2 positively regulates the biosynthesis of the anticancer drug camptothecin in Ophiorrhiza pumila

Horticulture Research ◽

10.1038/s41438-020-00437-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Xiaolong Hao ◽

Chenhong Xie ◽

Qingyan Ruan ◽

Xichen Zhang ◽

Chao Wu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Transcription Factor ◽

Anticancer Activity ◽

Time Course ◽

Indole Alkaloid ◽

Fold Increase ◽

Wrky Transcription Factor ◽

Mobility Shift ◽

Pathway Gene ◽

Low Concentrations ◽

Encoding Gene

AbstractThe limited bioavailability of plant-derived natural products with anticancer activity poses major challenges to the pharmaceutical industry. An example of this is camptothecin, a monoterpene indole alkaloid with potent anticancer activity that is extracted at very low concentrations from woody plants. Recently, camptothecin biosynthesis has been shown to become biotechnologically amenable in hairy-root systems of the natural producer Ophiorrhiza pumila. Here, time-course expression and metabolite analyses were performed to identify novel transcriptional regulators of camptothecin biosynthesis in O. pumila. It is shown here that camptothecin production increased over cultivation time and that the expression pattern of the WRKY transcription factor encoding gene OpWRKY2 is closely correlated with camptothecin accumulation. Overexpression of OpWRKY2 led to a more than three-fold increase in camptothecin levels. Accordingly, silencing of OpWRKY2 correlated with decreased camptothecin levels in the plant. Further detailed molecular characterization by electrophoretic mobility shift, yeast one-hybrid and dual-luciferase assays showed that OpWRKY2 directly binds and activates the central camptothecin pathway gene OpTDC. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate that OpWRKY2 acts as a direct positive regulator of camptothecin biosynthesis. As such, a feasible strategy for the over-accumulation of camptothecin in a biotechnologically amenable system is presented.

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