WRKY transcription factors in moso bamboo that are responsive to abiotic stresses

WRKY proteins compose a major transcription factor family in plants and are involved in the regulation of plant responses to a variety of stresses. Two novel WRKY genes, PheWRKY1-1 (Gene ID No. PH01000048G1770) and PheWRKY50-1 (Gene ID No. PH01000130G0430), were isolated from moso bamboo, and their coding sequence lengths were 1686 bp and 1023 bp, respectively. The PheWRKY1-1 and PheWRKY50-1 proteins contain typical WRKY domains, and the proteins are expressed in the nucleus. RT-PCR analysis revealed that PheWRKY1-1 was mainly expressed in the roots and that PheWRKY50-1 was concentrated in the leaves. Under drought and salt stress, the expression levels of these two genes in the roots, stems and leaves increased or decreased to varying degrees. The PheWRKY50-1 gene was transformed into Arabidopsis via Agrobacterium infection, and the transgenic plants showed higher resistance to stress than did the wild-type plants.