The study aims to detect the subcellular localization of ERF （ethylene-responsive element binding factor） transcription factor W17 protein, the interaction between W 17 and cis-acting regulatory elements GCC-box and DRE in vitro, the binding and transactivating ability in vivo, and the role of W17 in higher plant stress-signal pathway. Recombinant plasmid W17/163hGFP was introduced into onion epidermal cells by the particle bombardment method with a PDS 1000/He. Transformed cells were incubated for 24 h at 22℃ in the dark and green fluorescence was monitored under a confocal microscope. The gene W17 was fused N-terminus of GST （glutathione-S-transferase） in prokaryotic expression vector pGEX-4T-1 and then transformed into E. coli strain BL21 （DE3）. IPTG （0.5 mmol L-1） was added to induce the expression of recombinant GST/W17 for 3 h. The fused proteins were purified by GST purification columns, and then subjected to gel retardation assay with a 32p-labeled GCC or DRE sequence. The different reporter and effector plasmids were introduced into tobacco leaves through agroinfiltration, then transformed leaves stained by X-Gluc, faded with 75% alcohol and monitored under a Stereozooming microscope. The GFP fused with W17 protein was localized in the nuclei; SDS-PAGE assay demonstrated that the fused protein GST/W17 could be induced and purified with molecular weight at around 42.2 kD under the induction of IPTG. Purified fused protein was able to specifically bind to both the wild-type GCC-box and DRE element, but had no interaction with either the mutant DRE or GCC-box; W17 protein can bind to GCC-box and transactive downstream GUS gene in vivo. W17 can localize into the nuclei, and it may be involved not only in biotic stresses controlled by GCC-box, but also in abiotic stresses （e.g., salt-） induced signaling pathway.
Protein kinases play crucial roles in response to external environment stress signals. A putative protein kinase, W55a, belonging to SNFl-related protein kinase 2 （SnRK2） subfamily, was isolated from a cDNA library of drought-treated wheat seedlings. The entire length of W55a was obtained using rapid amplification of 5＇ cDNA ends （5＇-RACE） and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction（RT-PCR）. It contains a 1 029-bp open reading frame （ORF） encoding 342 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence of W55a had eleven conserved catalytic subdomains and one Ser/Thr protein kinase active-site that characterize Ser/Thr protein kinases. Phylogenetic analysis showed that W55a was 90.38% homologous with rice SAPK1, a member of the SnRK2 family. Using nullisomic-tetrasomic and ditelocentric lines of Chinese Spring, W55a was located on chromosome 2BS. Expression pattern analysis revealed that W55a was upregulated by drought and salt, exogenous abscisic acid, salicylic acid, ethylene and methyl jasmonate, but was not responsive to cold stress. In addition, W55a transcripts were abundant in leaves, but not in roots or stems, under environmental stresses. Transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing W55a exhibited higher tolerance to drought. Based on these findings, W55a encodes a novel dehydration-responsive protein kinase that is involved in multiple stress signal transductions.
Zhao-Shi XuLi LiuZhi-Yong NiPei LiuMing ChenLian-Cheng LiYao-Feng ChenYou-Zhi Ma
