Arabidopsis WRKY Transcription Factors WRKY12 and WRKY13 Oppositely Regulate Flowering under Short-Day Conditions

Abstract

In plants, photoperiod is an important cue for determining flowering. The floral transition in Arabidopsis thaliana is earlier under long-day (LD) than under short-day (SD) conditions. Flowering of Arabidopsis plants under SD conditions is mainly regulated by the plant hormone gibberellin (GA). Here, we report two WRKY transcription factors function oppositely in controlling flowering time under SD conditions. Phenotypic analysis showed that disruption of WRKY12 caused a delay in flowering, while loss of WRKY13 function promoted flowering. WRKY12 and WRKY13 displayed negatively correlated expression profiles and function successively to regulate flowering. Molecular and genetic analyses demonstrated that FRUITFULL (FUL) is a direct downstream target gene of WRKY12 and WRKY13. Interestingly, we found that DELLA proteins GIBBERELLIN INSENSITIVE (GAI) and RGA-LIKE1 (RGL1) interacted with WRKY12 and WRKY13, and their interactions interfered with the transcriptional activity of the WRKY12 and WRKY13. Further studies suggested thatWRKY12 and WRKY13 partly mediated the effect of GA on controlling flowering time. Taken together, our results indicate that WRKY12 and WRKY13 oppositely modulate flowering time under SD conditions, which at least partially involves the action of GA.

MdWRKY9 overexpression confers intensive dwarfing in the M26 rootstock of apple by directly inhibiting brassinosteroid synthetase MdDWF4 expression

“…WRKYs are TFs that have been reported to induce dwarfing (Cai et al, 2014;Guo et al, 2015;Li et al, 2016). We screened five dwarfing rootstocks and five nondwarfing rootstocks of apple and detected the expression of 29 WRKY genes that may function in plant development.…”

MdWRKY40 promotes wounding‐induced anthocyanin biosynthesis in association with MdMYB1 and undergoes MdBT2‐mediated degradation

“…So far, 70 WRKY proteins in Arabidopsis and > 100 in rice have been found (Wu et al, 2005;Ross et al, 2007). WRKY TFs have been reported to play multifaceted roles in plant growth and development (Eulgem et al, 2000;Rushton et al, 2010), including biotic and abiotic stress responses (Jiang J. et al, 2017), leaf senescence (Jiang et al, 2014;Chen et al, 2017), anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin biosynthesis (Devaiah et al, 2007;Gonzalez et al, 2016;Verweij et al, 2016;Duan et al, 2018), flowering (Li et al, 2016), seed development (Zhang et al, 2011;Ding et al, 2014) and trichome patterning (Pesch et al, 2014). In particular, the WRKY proteins TTG2 and PH3 affect flavonoid biosynthesis by interacting with the WBM complex in Arabidopsis and Petunia, respectively (Gonzalez et al, 2016;Verweij et al, 2016;Lloyd et al, 2017).…”

Genome-Wide Investigation of WRKY Transcription Factors Involved in Terminal Drought Stress Response in Common Bean

“…In the first comprehensive review of the WRKY protein, SPF1 was reported to have been cloned from sweet potato 22 years ago. Since then, many WRKY genes have been found in multiple species, including Arabidopsis , rice, wheat, and soybean (Ishiguro and Nakamura, 1994; Ren et al, 2010; Wang F. et al, 2015; Wang et al, 2016; He Y. et al, 2016; Li W. et al, 2016; Yang et al, 2016). PlantTFDB (V4.0) contains 14,549 WRKY genes from 166 species.…”