Protein-Protein Interactions in the Regulation of WRKY Transcription Factors

It has been almost 20 years since the first report of a WRKY transcription factor, SPF1, from sweet potato. Great progress has been made since then in establishing the diverse biological roles of WRKY transcription factors in plant growth, development, and responses to biotic and abiotic stress. Despite the functional diversity, almost all ana-lyzed WRKY proteins recognize the TrGACC/T W-box sequences and, therefore, mechanisms other than mere recognition of the core W-box promoter elements are necessary to achieve the regulatory specificity of WRKY transcription factors. Research over the past several years has revealed that WRKY transcription factors physically interact with a wide range of proteins with roles in signaling, transcription, and chromatin remodeling. Studies of WRKY-interacting proteins have provided important insights into the regulation and mode of action of members of the important family of transcrip-tion factors. It has also emerged that the slightly varied WRKY domains and other protein motifs conserved within each of the seven WRKY subfamilies participate in protein-protein interactions and mediate complex functional interactions between WRKY proteins and between WRKY and other regulatory proteins in the modulation of important biologi- cal processes. In this review, we summarize studies of protein-protein interactions for WRKY transcription factors and discuss how the interacting partners contribute, at different levels, to the establishment of the complex regulatory and functional network of WRKY transcription factors.

Effects of nitrogen form on growth,CO_2 assimilation,chlorophyll fluorescence,and photosynthetic electron allocation in cucumber and rice plants

Cucumber and rice plants with varying ammonium (NH4+) sensitivities were used to examine the effects of different nitrogen (N) sources on gas exchange, chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence quenching, and photosynthetic electron allocation. Compared to nitrate (NO3-)-grown plants, cucumber plants grown under NH4+-nutrition showed decreased plant growth, net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, intercellular carbon dioxide (CO2) level, transpiration rate, maximum photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, and O2-independent alternative electron flux, and increased O2-dependent alternative electron flux. However, the N source had little effect on gas exchange, Chl a fluorescence parameters, and photosynthetic electron allocation in rice plants, except that NH4+-grown plants had a higher O2-independent alternative electron flux than NO3--grown plants. NO3- reduction activity was rarely detected in leaves of NH4+-grown cucumber plants, but was high in NH4+-grown rice plants. These results demonstrate that significant amounts of photosynthetic electron transport were coupled to NO3- assimilation, an effect more significant in NO3-- grown plants than in NH4+-grown plants. Meanwhile, NH4+-tolerant plants exhibited a higher demand for the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) for NO3- reduction, regardless of the N form supplied, while NH4+-sensitive plants had a high water-water cycle activity when NH4+ was supplied as the sole N source.

Hydrogen peroxide functions as a secondary messenger for brassinosteroids-induced CO_2 assimilation and carbohydrate metabolism in Cucumis sativus

Brassinosteroids(BRs) are potent regulators of photosynthesis and crop yield in agricultural crops;however,the mechanism by which BRs increase photosynthesis is not fully understood.Here,we show that foliar application of 24-epibrassinolide(EBR) resulted in increases in CO 2 assimilation,hydrogen peroxide(H 2 O 2) accumulation,and leaf area in cucumber.H 2 O 2 treatment induced increases in CO 2 assimilation whilst inhibition of the H 2 O 2 accumulation by its generation inhibitor or scavenger completely abolished EBR-induced CO 2 assimilation.Increases of light harvesting due to larger leaf areas in EBR-and H 2 O 2-treated plants were accompanied by increases in the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II(Φ PSII) and photochemical quenching coefficient(q P).EBR and H 2 O 2 both activated carboxylation efficiency of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate oxygenase/carboxylase(Rubisco) from analysis of CO 2 response curve and in vitro measurement of Rubisco activities.Moreover,EBR and H 2 O 2 increased contents of total soluble sugar,sucrose,hexose,and starch,followed by enhanced activities of sugar metabolism such as sucrose phosphate synthase,sucrose synthase,and invertase.Interestingly,expression of transcripts of enzymes involved in starch and sugar utilization were inhibited by EBR and H 2 O 2.However,the effects of EBR on carbohydrate metabolisms were reversed by the H 2 O 2 generation inhibitor diphenyleneodonium(DPI) or scavenger dimethylthiourea(DMTU) pretreatment.All of these results indicate that H 2 O 2 functions as a secondary messenger for EBR-induced CO 2 assimilation and carbohydrate metabolism in cucumber plants.Our study confirms that H 2 O 2 mediates the regulation of photosynthesis by BRs and suggests that EBR and H 2 O 2 regulate Calvin cycle and sugar metabolism via redox signaling and thus increase the photosynthetic potential and yield of crops.