Genome-Wide Identification of WRKY Transcription Factors in Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) and Their Involvement in Fruit Developing, Ripening, and Abiotic Stress

Chinese jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) is an economically important fruit crop in China and mainly cultivated on land with high salinity and drought conditions in northern China. WRKY transcription factors (TFs) are involved in plant development and in responses to multiple abiotic stresses. In this study, we identified 61 and 52 putative ZjWRKY TFs in Junzao' and Dongzao' at the genome-wide level. Tissue expression profiling showed that 7 genes were constitutively expressed at high level in all tissues of Junzao'. Transcriptome analysis revealed that 39 ZjWRKY genes were expressed during Junzao' jujube fruit ripening. Among these genes, the transcript abundance of 19 genes were differentially expressed between Junzao' and Qingjiansuanzao' fruit. In addition, RT-qPCR analyses revealed that 30, 14, and 18 ZjWRKY genes responded to drought, NaCl, and ABA treatments, respectively. Taken together, ZjWRKY genes expression dynamics during jujube fruit development, ripening, and their differences between jujube and wild jujube would provide insights into their possible roles regulating fruit ripening. In addition, those ZjWRKY genes responded strongly to drought and salt stress, which provide candidate ZjWRKY genes for facilitating tolerance breeding.