Abstract
Limited information is available about the roles of specific WRKY transcription factors in plant defense. We report physical and functional interactions between structurally related and pathogen-induced WRKY18, WRKY40, and WRKY60 transcription factors in Arabidopsis thaliana. The three WRKY proteins formed both homocomplexes and heterocomplexes and DNA binding activities were significantly shifted depending on which WRKY proteins were present in these complexes. Single WRKY mutants exhibited no or small alterations in response to the hemibiotrophic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae and the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea. However, wrky18 wrky40 and wrky18 wrky60 double mutants and the wrky18 wrky40 wrky60 triple mutant were substantially more resistant to P. syringae but more susceptible to B. cinerea than wild-type plants. Thus, the three WRKY proteins have partially redundant roles in plant responses to the two distinct types of pathogens, with WRKY18 playing a more important role than the other two. The contrasting responses of these WRKY mutants to the two pathogens correlated with opposite effects on pathogen-induced expression of salicylic acid-regulated PATHOGENESIS-RELATED1 and jasmonic acid-regulated PDF1.2. While constitutive expression of WRKY18 enhanced resistance to P. syringae, its coexpression with WRKY40 or WRKY60 made plants more susceptible to both P. syringae and B. cinerea. These results indicate that the three WRKY proteins interact both physically and functionally in a complex pattern of overlapping, antagonistic, and distinct roles in plant responses to different types of microbial pathogens.
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Claims 10
Claim · model-written summary
WRKY18, WRKY40 and WRKY60 formed homo- and heterocomplexes.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thaliana
Arabidopsis thalianae1 - Gene
- WRKY18, WRKY40, and WRKY60e1
- Outcome
- homocomplexes and heterocomplexese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The three WRKY proteins formed both homocomplexes and heterocomplexes”
e1“WRKY18, WRKY40, and WRKY60 transcription factors in Arabidopsis thaliana”
Claim · model-written summary
DNA binding activities shifted significantly with complex composition.
- Taxon
- Arabidopsis thalianaArabidopsis thalianae1
- Gene
- WRKY18, WRKY40, and WRKY60e1
- Outcome
- DNA binding activitiese0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“DNA binding activities were significantly shifted depending on which WRKY proteins were present in these complexes”
e1“WRKY18, WRKY40, and WRKY60 transcription factors in Arabidopsis thaliana”
Claim · model-written summary
Single WRKY mutants showed no or small response changes to P. syringae.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Material
- Single WRKY mutantse0
- Interactor
- Pseudomonas syringae
Pseudomonas syringaee0pathogen - Outcome
- no or small alterations in responsee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Single WRKY mutants exhibited no or small alterations in response to the hemibiotrophic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Single WRKY mutants showed no or small response changes to B. cinerea.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Material
- Single WRKY mutantse0
- Interactor
- Botrytis cinerea
Botrytis cinereae0pathogen - Outcome
- no or small alterations in responsee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Single WRKY mutants exhibited no or small alterations in response to the hemibiotrophic bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae and the necrotrophic fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Double and triple WRKY mutants were more resistant to P. syringae than wild type.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Material
- wrky18 wrky40 and wrky18 wrky60 double mutants and the wrky18 wrky40 wrky60 triple mutante0
- Interactor
- P. syringaePseudomonas syringaee0pathogen
- Outcome
- resistant to P. syringaee0
- Direction
- more resistante0
- Comparator
- wild-type plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“wrky18 wrky40 and wrky18 wrky60 double mutants and the wrky18 wrky40 wrky60 triple mutant were substantially more resistant to P. syringae but more susceptible to B. cinerea than wild-type plants”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Double and triple WRKY mutants were more susceptible to B. cinerea than wild type.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Material
- wrky18 wrky40 and wrky18 wrky60 double mutants and the wrky18 wrky40 wrky60 triple mutante0
- Interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae0pathogen
- Outcome
- susceptible to B. cinereae0
- Direction
- more susceptiblee0
- Comparator
- wild-type plantse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“wrky18 wrky40 and wrky18 wrky60 double mutants and the wrky18 wrky40 wrky60 triple mutant were substantially more resistant to P. syringae but more susceptible to B. cinerea than wild-type plants”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Contrasting pathogen responses correlated with opposite effects on PATHOGENESIS-RELATED1 and PDF1.2 expression.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Material
- WRKY mutantse0
- Gene
- PATHOGENESIS-RELATED1 and jasmonic acid-regulated PDF1.2e0
- Outcome
- pathogen-induced expressione0
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“contrasting responses of these WRKY mutants to the two pathogens correlated with opposite effects on pathogen-induced expression of salicylic acid-regulated PATHOGENESIS-RELATED1 and jasmonic acid-regulated PDF1.2”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
Constitutive WRKY18 expression enhanced resistance to P. syringae.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Treatment
- constitutive expression of WRKY18e0
- Interactor
- P. syringaePseudomonas syringaee0pathogen
- Gene
- WRKY18e0
- Outcome
- resistance to P. syringaee0
- Direction
- enhancede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“constitutive expression of WRKY18 enhanced resistance to P. syringae”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
WRKY18 coexpression with WRKY40 made plants more susceptible to both pathogens.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Treatment
- coexpression with WRKY40e0
- Interactor
- P. syringaePseudomonas syringaee0pathogen
- Second interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae0pathogen
- Gene
- WRKY40e0
- Outcome
- susceptible to both P. syringae and B. cinereae0
- Direction
- more susceptiblee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“its coexpression with WRKY40 or WRKY60 made plants more susceptible to both P. syringae and B. cinerea”
e1“constitutive expression of WRKY18 enhanced resistance to P. syringae”
t0“Arabidopsis”
Claim · model-written summary
WRKY18 coexpression with WRKY60 made plants more susceptible to both pathogens.
- Taxon
- ArabidopsisArabidopsist0
- Treatment
- coexpression with WRKY40 or WRKY60e0
- Interactor
- P. syringaePseudomonas syringaee0pathogen
- Second interactor
- B. cinereaBotrytis cinereae0pathogen
- Gene
- WRKY60e0
- Outcome
- susceptible to both P. syringae and B. cinereae0
- Direction
- more susceptiblee0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“its coexpression with WRKY40 or WRKY60 made plants more susceptible to both P. syringae and B. cinerea”
t0“Arabidopsis”
The same questions in other papers
overexpression · Pseudomonas syringae · ArabidopsisPositive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- negative
- no effect
- positive
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.