Abstract
WRKY protein is a unique transcription factor (TF) and plays an important role in the physiological processes of various stress responses and plant development. In this research, we obtained a WRKY TF gene from soybean by homologous cloning, and named it GmWRKY45. GmWRKY45 is a nuclear protein containing a highly conserved WRKY domain and a C2H2 zinc finger structure, and mainly expressed in roots, flowers and pods of soybean. The quantitative reverse transcription–PCR showed that GmWRKY45 was induced by phosphate starvation and salt stress. As compared with the wild type (WT), overexpression of GmWRKY45 increased the adaptability of transgenic Arabidopsis to phosphate starvation, which might be related to the enhancement of lateral root development. The phosphorus concentration, fresh weight and dry weight of GmWRKY45-overexpressing Arabidopsis were higher than those of WT under Pi-sufficient or Pi-deficient condition. Meantime, the expression of phosphate-responsive genes was affected in transgenic Arabidopsis. Furthermore, GmWRKY45 improved the salt tolerance and changed fertility of transgenic Arabidopsis. Under salt stress, we found the survival rate and soluble sugar content of transgenic Arabidopsis were significantly higher than those of WT. In a conventional soil pot experiment, the transgenic Arabidopsis produced shorter silique, less and larger seeds than WT, these might be due to partial abortion of pollens. The overall results showed that GmWRKY45 was not only involved in response to abiotic stress but also related to fertility, suggested that GmWRKY45 had an elaborate regulatory system in plants.
Highlights
IntroductionPlants will encounter various biological and non-biological pressures during their growth and development
In the natural environment, plants will encounter various biological and non-biological pressures during their growth and development
We found that overexpression of GmWRKY45 improved tolerance to phosphate starvation in transgenic Arabidopsis plants as under P- condition its growth was not inhibited relative to the wild type (WT) (Figure 3A and Supplemental Figure S2)
Summary
Plants will encounter various biological and non-biological pressures during their growth and development. P plays an important role in plant growth and development, including energy generation, nucleic acid synthesis, photosynthesis, glycolysis, respiration, membrane synthesis and Functional Characterization of GmWRKY45 stability, etc. P is abundant in many soils, crop yield on 30%–40% of the world’s arable land is limited by P availability, because plants take up P exclusively in the form of inorganic phosphate (Pi) (Vance et al, 2003). Soil salinity is a major abiotic stress worldwide (Rengasamy, 2006). The development of plants that can efficiently resist phosphate starvation and salt stress are a sustainable and economic approach for plant production, it may be an important contribution for the improvement of crop yield
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