The WRKY Transcription Factor OsWRKY54 Is Involved in Salt Tolerance in Rice.

Salt stress is a critical limiting factor for rice growth and production. Although numerous salt-tolerant genes have been identified, the mechanism underlying salt stress tolerance in rice remains unclear. This study reports the need for an uncharacterized WRKY transcription factor OsWRKY54 for rice salt-tolerance. Salt stress resulted in a rapid induction of expression in roots. Immunostaining analysis showed that it was mainly expressed in the stele. The loss of resulted in greater Na accumulation in shoots and enhanced sensitivity of rice plants to salt stress. The real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) and transcriptome analysis revealed that OsWRKY54 regulated the expression of some essential genes related to salt tolerance, such as and Furthermore, OsWRKY54 was found to regulate expression by directly binding to the W-box motif in its promoter. Thus, these results indicated that was a critical regulatory factor in salt tolerance in rice.