Department of Horticulture, Zijingang Campus, 866 Yuhangtang Road, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
Department of Botany and Plant Pathology and Purdue Center for Plant Biology, 915 W. State Street, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 19;7(1):17804. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18235-8.
WRKY proteins are a superfamily of plant transcription factors with important roles in plants. WRKY proteins have been extensively analyzed in plant species including Arabidopsis and rice. Here we report characterization of soybean WRKY gene family and their functional analysis in resistance to soybean cyst nematode (SCN), the most important soybean pathogen. Through search of the soybean genome, we identified 174 genes encoding WRKY proteins that can be classified into seven groups as established in other plants. WRKY variants including a WRKY-related protein unique to legumes have also been identified. Expression analysis reveals both diverse expression patterns in different soybean tissues and preferential expression of specific WRKY groups in certain tissues. Furthermore, a large number of soybean WRKY genes were responsive to salicylic acid. To identify soybean WRKY genes that promote soybean resistance to SCN, we first screened soybean WRKY genes for enhancing SCN resistance when over-expressed in transgenic soybean hairy roots. To confirm the results, we transformed five WRKY genes into a SCN-susceptible soybean cultivar and generated transgenic soybean lines. Transgenic soybean lines overexpressing three WRKY transgenes displayed increased resistance to SCN. Thus, WRKY genes could be explored to develop new soybean cultivars with enhanced resistance to SCN.
WRKY 蛋白是植物转录因子的一个超家族，在植物中具有重要作用。WRKY 蛋白已在包括拟南芥和水稻在内的植物物种中进行了广泛分析。在这里，我们报告了大豆 WRKY 基因家族的特征及其在抗大豆胞囊线虫（SCN）中的功能分析，SCN 是最重要的大豆病原体。通过搜索大豆基因组，我们鉴定了 174 个编码 WRKY 蛋白的基因，这些基因可以分为其他植物中建立的七个组。还鉴定了包括豆科植物特有的 WRKY 相关蛋白在内的 WRKY 变体。表达分析显示，不同大豆组织中的表达模式多样，特定 WRKY 组在某些组织中优先表达。此外，大量大豆 WRKY 基因对水杨酸有反应。为了鉴定促进大豆抗 SCN 的大豆 WRKY 基因，我们首先筛选了在转基因大豆毛状根中过表达时增强 SCN 抗性的大豆 WRKY 基因。为了确认结果，我们将五个 WRKY 基因转化到一个 SCN 敏感的大豆品种中，并生成了转基因大豆系。过表达三个 WRKY 转基因的转基因大豆系对 SCN 的抗性增加。因此，可以探索 WRKY 基因来开发具有增强抗 SCN 性的新型大豆品种。
