AUTHOR=Li Cheng , Liu Xinyi , Ruan Hui , Zhang Jingyao , Xie Fengbin , Gai Junyi , Yang Shouping 

TITLE=GmWRKY45 Enhances Tolerance to Phosphate Starvation and Salt Stress, and Changes Fertility in Transgenic Arabidopsis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Plant Science

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/plant-science/articles/10.3389/fpls.2019.01714

DOI=10.3389/fpls.2019.01714

ISSN=1664-462X

ABSTRACT=<p>WRKY protein is a unique transcription factor (TF) and plays an important role in the physiological processes of various stress responses and plant development. In this research, we obtained a WRKY TF gene from soybean by homologous cloning, and named it <italic>GmWRKY45</italic>. <italic>GmWRKY45</italic> is a nuclear protein containing a highly conserved WRKY domain and a C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>2</sub> zinc finger structure, and mainly expressed in roots, flowers and pods of soybean. The quantitative reverse transcription–PCR showed that <italic>GmWRKY45</italic> was induced by phosphate starvation and salt stress. As compared with the wild type (WT), overexpression of <italic>GmWRKY45</italic> increased the adaptability of transgenic <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> to phosphate starvation, which might be related to the enhancement of lateral root development. The phosphorus concentration, fresh weight and dry weight of <italic>GmWRKY45</italic>-overexpressing <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> were higher than those of WT under Pi-sufficient or Pi-deficient condition. Meantime, the expression of phosphate-responsive genes was affected in transgenic <italic>Arabidopsis.</italic> Furthermore, <italic>GmWRKY45</italic> improved the salt tolerance and changed fertility of transgenic <italic>Arabidopsis</italic>. Under salt stress, we found the survival rate and soluble sugar content of transgenic <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> were significantly higher than those of WT. In a conventional soil pot experiment, the transgenic <italic>Arabidopsis</italic> produced shorter silique, less and larger seeds than WT, these might be due to partial abortion of pollens. The overall results showed that <italic>GmWRKY45</italic> was not only involved in response to abiotic stress but also related to fertility, suggested that <italic>GmWRKY45</italic> had an elaborate regulatory system in plants.</p>