Characterization of the elicitor-responsive transcription factor OsWRKY53 in rice and identification of an elicitor/jasmonate-responsive region of the OsWRKY53 promoter

Abstract

WRKY proteins are a large family of transcription factors that have been suggested to have a regulatory function in the response to pathogen infection and other stresses. OsWRKY53 is a chitin elicitor-induced rice WRKY gene that we isolated by microarray analysis. To examine whether OsWRKY53 activated transcription of genes, we performed a transient assay by particle bombardment method. As the results of the transient assay, it was suggested that OsWRKY53 functioned as an activator of target genes in vivo, and that the transactivation of the reporter gene was enhanced in response to elicitor treatment. On the other hand, we demonstrated that the elicitor-induced expression of OsWRKY53 was reduced in cpm2 that is thought to be a jasmonic acid (JA)-deficient mutant. This suggests that JA plays an important role in the elicitor-induced expression of OsWRKY53. Now, we are trying to identify an elicitor / JA-responsive region of OsWRKY53 promoter.