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REVIEW article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1517595
This article is part of the Research Topic Innovative Molecular Strategies for Enhancing Plant Defense Against Biotic Stresses View all 6 articles

Recent advances in functional assays of WRKY transcription factors in plant immunity against pathogens

Provisionally accepted
Wenjing Wang Wenjing Wang 1*Heihui Cao Heihui Cao 2Jiahao Wang Jiahao Wang 1Hongbo Zhang Hongbo Zhang 1
  • 1 Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, China
  • 2 Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    WRKY transcription factors (TFs) are one of the largest transcription factor families in plants and play important roles in plant processes, most notably in responding to diverse biotic and abiotic stresses. This article reviews the recent research progresses on WRKY TFs in regulating plant immunity, which includes both positive and negative regulation. WRKY TFs were shown to regulate plant defense against pathogens including fungi, bacteria, oomycetes, and viruses by modulating downstream pathogen resistance genes or interacting with other regulators. Plant signaling pathways or components involved in the regulatory network of WRKY-mediated plant immunity mainly involve the action of phytohormones, MAPKs (Mitogen-activated protein kinases), and other transcription factors. The interaction of WRKY TFs with these factors during pathogen resistance was discussed in this article, which may contribute to understanding the mechanisms of WRKY transcription factors in plant immunity.

    Keywords: WRKY TFs, biotic stress, Plant resistance, Defense signaling, plant-pathogen interactions

    Received: 26 Oct 2024; Accepted: 26 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Cao, Wang and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Wenjing Wang, Tobacco Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingdao, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.