A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i>
WRKY transcription factors (TFs), one of the largest transcription factor families in plants, play an important role in abiotic stress responses. The resurrection plant, <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i>, has a strong tolerance to dehydration, but only a few WRKY proteins related to abiot...
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MDPI AG
2022-07-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Molecular Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/15/8145 |
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| author | Zhuo Huang Jiatong Wang Yuan Li Li Song Duo’er Chen Ling Liu Cai-Zhong Jiang |
| author_facet | Zhuo Huang Jiatong Wang Yuan Li Li Song Duo’er Chen Ling Liu Cai-Zhong Jiang |
| author_sort | Zhuo Huang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | WRKY transcription factors (TFs), one of the largest transcription factor families in plants, play an important role in abiotic stress responses. The resurrection plant, <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i>, has a strong tolerance to dehydration, but only a few WRKY proteins related to abiotic stress response have been identified and functionally characterized in <i>M. flabellifolia</i>. In this study, we identified an early dehydration-induced gene, <i>MfWRKY40</i>, of <i>M. flabellifolia</i>. The deduced MfWRKY40 protein has a conserved WRKY motif but lacks a typical zinc finger motif in the WRKY domain and is localized in the nucleus. To investigate its potential roles in abiotic stresses, we overexpressed <i>MfWRKY40</i> in <i>Arabidopsis</i> and found that transgenic lines exhibited better tolerance to both drought and salt stresses. Further detailed analysis indicated that MfWRKY40 promoted primary root length elongation and reduced water loss rate and stomata aperture (width/length) under stress, which may provide <i>Arabidopsis</i> the better water uptake and retention abilities. MfWRKY40 also facilitated osmotic adjustment under drought and salt stresses by accumulating more osmolytes, such as proline, soluble sugar, and soluble protein. Additionally, the antioxidation ability of transgenic lines was also significantly enhanced, represented by higher chlorophyll content, less malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species accumulations, as well as higher antioxidation enzyme activities. All these results indicated that MfWRKY40 might positively regulate tolerance to drought and salinity stresses. Further investigation on the relationship of the missing zinc finger motif of MfWRKY40 and its regulatory role is necessary to obtain a better understanding of the mechanism underlying the excellent drought tolerance of <i>M. flabellifolia</i>. |
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| spelling | doaj.art-9715d7f9892940d4b2f190e62b3ade5e2023-11-30T22:24:07ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences1661-65961422-00672022-07-012315814510.3390/ijms23158145A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i>Zhuo Huang0Jiatong Wang1Yuan Li2Li Song3Duo’er Chen4Ling Liu5Cai-Zhong Jiang6College of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, ChinaCollege of Landscape Architecture, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, ChinaDepartment of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USAWRKY transcription factors (TFs), one of the largest transcription factor families in plants, play an important role in abiotic stress responses. The resurrection plant, <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i>, has a strong tolerance to dehydration, but only a few WRKY proteins related to abiotic stress response have been identified and functionally characterized in <i>M. flabellifolia</i>. In this study, we identified an early dehydration-induced gene, <i>MfWRKY40</i>, of <i>M. flabellifolia</i>. The deduced MfWRKY40 protein has a conserved WRKY motif but lacks a typical zinc finger motif in the WRKY domain and is localized in the nucleus. To investigate its potential roles in abiotic stresses, we overexpressed <i>MfWRKY40</i> in <i>Arabidopsis</i> and found that transgenic lines exhibited better tolerance to both drought and salt stresses. Further detailed analysis indicated that MfWRKY40 promoted primary root length elongation and reduced water loss rate and stomata aperture (width/length) under stress, which may provide <i>Arabidopsis</i> the better water uptake and retention abilities. MfWRKY40 also facilitated osmotic adjustment under drought and salt stresses by accumulating more osmolytes, such as proline, soluble sugar, and soluble protein. Additionally, the antioxidation ability of transgenic lines was also significantly enhanced, represented by higher chlorophyll content, less malondialdehyde and reactive oxygen species accumulations, as well as higher antioxidation enzyme activities. All these results indicated that MfWRKY40 might positively regulate tolerance to drought and salinity stresses. Further investigation on the relationship of the missing zinc finger motif of MfWRKY40 and its regulatory role is necessary to obtain a better understanding of the mechanism underlying the excellent drought tolerance of <i>M. flabellifolia</i>.https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/15/8145<i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i>drought tolerancesalinity toleranceWRKYzinc finger |
| spellingShingle | Zhuo Huang Jiatong Wang Yuan Li Li Song Duo’er Chen Ling Liu Cai-Zhong Jiang A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i> International Journal of Molecular Sciences <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> drought tolerance salinity tolerance WRKY zinc finger |
| title | A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i> |
| title_full | A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i> |
| title_fullStr | A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i> |
| title_full_unstemmed | A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i> |
| title_short | A WRKY Protein, MfWRKY40, of Resurrection Plant <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> Plays a Positive Role in Regulating Tolerance to Drought and Salinity Stresses of <i>Arabidopsis</i> |
| title_sort | wrky protein mfwrky40 of resurrection plant i myrothamnus flabellifolia i plays a positive role in regulating tolerance to drought and salinity stresses of i arabidopsis i |
| topic | <i>Myrothamnus flabellifolia</i> drought tolerance salinity tolerance WRKY zinc finger |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/23/15/8145 |
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