Functional analysis of a cold-responsive rice WRKY gene, OsWRKY71

• Published in: Plant biotechnology reports Vol. 10; no. 1; pp. 13 - 23
• Main Authors: Kim, Chi-Yeol, Vo, Kieu Thi Xuan, Nguyen, Cong Danh, Jeong, Dong-Hoon, Lee, Sang-Kyu, Kumar, Manu, Kim, Sung-Ryong, Park, Su-Hyun, Kim, Ju-Kon, Jeon, Jong-Seong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.01.2016; Springer Nature B.V; 한국식물생명공학회
• Subjects: Abiotic stress; Agribusiness; Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Cell Biology; Cold; cold stress; Cold tolerance; Corn; cytosol; gels; Genes; Life Sciences; luciferase; mesophyll; microarray technology; Original Article; Oryza sativa; Pathogens; photosynthesis; Plant Biochemistry; Plant biology; Plant Sciences; Proteins; protoplasts; repressor proteins; reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction; Rice; RNA; Studies; Survival; survival rate; Transcription factors; transcriptional activation; Transgenic plants; 농학; United States > US; Transgenic; Tolerance; OsWRKY71; Cold; Rice
• ISSN: 1863-5466; 1863-5474
• DOI: 10.1007/s11816-015-0383-2

Publicly available microarray data and RNA gel blot analysis identified a rice WRKY transcription factor, OsWRKY71, that is highly upregulated in response to cold stress. Experiments with OsWRKY71 promoter:GFP transgenic rice confirmed its cold-inducible expression. Transient expression of OsWRKY71-GFP in maize mesophyll protoplasts indicated that it is localized predominantly in the nucleus and to a lesser extent in the cytosol. Transcriptional activation assays revealed that OsWRKY71 suppresses luciferase reporter activity in maize protoplasts, suggesting that it functions as a transcriptional repressor in rice. To characterize the function of OsWRKY71 in rice, we generated transgenic rice plants carrying CaMV35S promoter:OsWRKY71. Upon cold (4 °C) treatment, two selected OsWRKY71 transgenic lines, OX12 and OX21, recovered much better with respect to survival rate, photosynthetic ability, fresh weight, and dry weight than the control lines. RT-PCR analysis of known cold-responsive genes found that expression of OsTGFR and WSI76 was increased in OsWRKY71 transgenic lines in response to cold stress. Our results suggest that OsWRKY71 has a positive function in cold tolerance by regulating downstream target genes.