Genome-Wide Transcriptomic Identification and Functional Insight of Lily WRKY Genes Responding to Botrytis Fungal Disease

• Published in: Plants (Basel) Vol. 10; no. 4; p. 776
• Main Authors: Kumari, Shipra, Kanth, Bashistha Kumar, Ahn, Ju Young, Kim, Jong Hwa, Lee, Geung-Joo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 15.04.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Amino acids; Annotations; Blight; Botrytis; Botrytis disease; Classification; Conserved sequence; Developmental stages; Drought; Environmental stress; Flowers & plants; Fungal diseases; Gene expression; Genes; Genetic engineering; Genomes; Genotypes; Homology; Leaf blight; Lilium longiflorum; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Physiology; Plant species; Proteins; qRT-PCR; Regulatory proteins; Species classification; Stresses; transcription factor; Transcription factors; Transcriptomes; Transcriptomics; WRKY family; WRKY family; transcription factor; Lilium longiflorum; Botrytis disease; qRT-PCR
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants10040776

Genome-wide transcriptome analysis using RNA-Seq of revealed valuable genes responding to biotic stresses. WRKY transcription factors are regulatory proteins playing essential roles in defense processes under environmental stresses, causing considerable losses in flower quality and production. Thirty-eight genes were identified from the transcriptomic profile from lily genotypes, exhibiting leaf blight caused by . Lily WRKYs have a highly conserved motif, WRKYGQK, with a common variant, WRKYGKK. Phylogeny of s with homologous genes from other representative plant species classified them into three groups- I, II, and III consisting of seven, 22, and nine genes, respectively. Base on functional annotation, 22 genes were associated with biotic stress, nine with abiotic stress, and seven with others. Sixteen unique were studied to investigate responses to stress conditions using gene expression under biotic and abiotic stress treatments. Five genes- , , , , and -were substantially upregulated, proving to be biotic stress-responsive genes in vivo and in vitro conditions. Moreover, the expression patterns of genes varied in response to drought, heat, cold, and different developmental stages or tissues. Overall, our study provides structural and molecular insights into genes for use in the genetic engineering in against disease.