All multicellular eukaryotes are susceptible to pathogens. Animal hosts have developed cell-autonomous innate immunity, and chordates have additionally evolved an adaptive immune system to defend against pathogen invasion. In contrast, plant immunity is entirely innate, and relies on the ability of individual cells to activate defense upon pathogen detection by either cell surface or cytoplasmi...

Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids (BIQ) are among the most structurally diverse and pharmaceutically valuable secondary metabolites. A plant-specific WRKY-type transcription factor, CjWRKY1, was isolated from Coptis japonica and identified as a transcriptional activator of BIQ biosynthesis. However, the expression of CjWRKY1 gene alone was not sufficient for the activation of genes encoding biosynth...

Plant-specific WRKY transcription factors (TFs) have been implicated to function as regulators of leaf senescence, but their association with postharvest leaf senescence of economically important leafy vegetables, is poorly understood. In this work, the characterization of a Group IIe WRKY TF, BrWRKY65, from Chinese flowering cabbage (Brassica rapa var. parachinensis) is reported. The expressio...

WRKY proteins are one of the largest transcription factor families in higher plants and play diverse roles in various biological processes. Previous studies have shown that some WRKY members act as negative regulators of secondary cell wall formation in pith parenchyma cells. However, the regulatory mechanism of pith secondary wall formation in tree species remains largely unknown. In this stud...

WRKY transcription factors are known to participate in the defence responses of higher plants. However, little is known about the roles of such proteins, especially regarding their functions in the resistance of oilseed rape (Brassica napus) to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, a necrotrophic fungal pathogen that causes stem rot. In this study, we identified BnWRKY33 as a S. sclerotiorum-responsive gen...

Benzothiadiazole (BTH) is a so-called plant activator and protects plants from diseases by activating the salicylic acid (SA) signaling pathway. By microarray screening, we identified BTH- and SA-inducible WRKY transcription factor (TF) genes that were upregulated within 3 h after BTH treatment. Overexpression of one of them, WRKY45, in rice (Oryza sativa) markedly enhanced resistance to rice b...