RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 <em>Ocimum sanctum, OscWRKY1</em>, regulates phenylpropanoid pathway genes and promotes resistance to pathogen infection in Arabidopsis
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2022.01.12.474522
DO 10.1101/2022.01.12.474522
A1 Ashutosh Joshi
A1 Gajendra Singh Jeena
A1 Shikha
A1 Ravi Kumar
A1 Alok Pandey
A1 Rakesh Kumar Shukla
YR 2022
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2022/01/13/2022.01.12.474522.abstract
AB WRKY transcription factor (TF) family regulates various developmental and physiological functions in plants. PAL genes encode enzymes which are involved in plant defense responses, but the direct regulation of PAL genes and phenylpropanoid pathway through WRKY TF’s is not well characterized. In the present study, we have characterized an OscWRKY1 gene from O. sanctum which shows induced expression after methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), and wounding. Recombinant OscWRKY1 protein binds to the W-box cis-element TTGAC[C/T] and activates the reporter gene in yeast. Overexpression of OscWRKY1 enhances Arabidopsis resistance towards Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato Pst DC3000. Upstream activator sequences of PAL and C4H have identified the conserved W-box cis-element (TTGACC) in both O. sanctum and Arabidopsis. OscWRKY1 was found to interact with W-box cis-element present in the PAL and C4H promoters. Silencing of OscWRKY1 using VIGS resulted in reduced expression of PAL, C4H, COMT, F5H and 4CL transcripts. OscWRKY1 silenced plants exhibit reduced PAL activity, whereas, the overexpression lines of OscWRKY1 in Arabidopsis exhibit increased PAL activity. These results revealed that OscWRKY1 positively regulates the phenylpropanoid pathway genes and enhances the resistance against bacterial pathogen in Arabidopsis.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.