Biologia plantarum 60:226-234, 2016 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-016-0582-x

Molecular cloning and expression analysis of SpWRKY6 gene from Solanum pimpinellifolium

Z. Liu1, Y. S. Luan1,*, J. B. Li1
1 School of Life Science & Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, P.R. China

Ttranscription factors WRKY play vital roles in response to biotic and abiotic stresses, and previous studies have predominantly focused on model plants and fairly limited research has been performed with tomato. In the present study, a novel pathogen-induced WRKY gene named SpWRKY6 was isolated from the late blight resistant tomato (Solanum pimpinellifolium) cultivar L3708 using in silico cloning and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) methods. Multiple sequence alignment with other plant WRKYs indicates that SpWRKY6 contains two WRKY domains and belongs to group I WRKY transcription factors. Furthermore, some cis-acting elements associated with responses to environmental stresses were observed in the promoter region of this gene. Gene expression patterns were determined by analyzing microarray data of SpWRKY6 in tomato and of an orthologous gene from Arabidopsis thaliana using the Genevestigator tool. The results reveal a very strong biotic and abiotic stress responsive behaviour of this gene. Moreover, bioinformatics results were confirmed by real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and show that SpWRKY6 expression was rapidly induced after infection with Phytophthora infestans and Botrytis cinerea, respectively. Expression of SpWRKY6 was up-regulated by application of various phytohormones including salicylic acid, methyl jasmonate, and abscisic acid. Likewise, the SpWRKY6 expression was induced by NaCl, drought, heat, cold, and HgCl2 treatments.

Keywords: abscisic acid; Botrytis cinerea; cold; drought; heat; methyl jasmonate; Phytophthora infestans; tomato; salicylic acid; salinity; WRKY transcription factors
Subjects: gene expression; abscisic acid; cold stress; drought; heat stress; methyl jasmonate; salicylic acid; salinity; transcription factor; phylogenetic analysis
Species: Solanum pimpinellifolium; Botrytis cinerea; Phytophthora infestans

Received: June 2, 2015; Revised: July 26, 2015; Accepted: August 24, 2015; Published: June 1, 2016Show citation

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Liu, Z., Luan, Y.S., & Li, J.B. (2016). Molecular cloning and expression analysis of SpWRKY6 gene from Solanum pimpinellifolium. Biologia plantarum, 60(2), 226-234. doi: 10.1007/s10535-016-0582-x.
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