Characterization of the promoter and extended C-terminal domain of Arabidopsis WRKY33 and functional analysis of tomato WRKY33 homologues in plant stress responses

Arabidopsis AtWRKY33 plays a critical role in broad plant stress responses. Whether there are evolutionarily conserved homologues of AtWRKY33 in other plants and what make AtWRKY33 such an important protein in plant stress responses are largely unknown. We compared AtWRKY33 with its close homologues to identify AtWRKY33-specific regulatory and structural elements, which were then functionally analysed through complementation. We also performed phylogenetic analysis to identify structural AtWRKY33 homologues in other plants and functionally analysed two tomato homologues through complementation and gene silencing. AtWRKY33 has an extended C-terminal domain (CTD) absent in its close homologue AtWRKY25. Both its CTD and the strong pathogen/stress-responsive expression of AtWRKY33 are necessary to complement the critical phenotypes of atwrky33. Structural AtWRKY33 homologues were identified in both dicot and monocot plants including two (SlWRKY33A and SlWRKY33B) in tomato. Molecular complementation and gene silencing confirmed that the two tomato WRKY genes play a critical role similar to that of AtWRKY33 in plant stress responses. Thus, WRKY33 proteins are evolutionarily conserved with a critical role in broad plant stress responses. Both its CTD and promoter are critical for the uniquely important roles of WRKY33 in plant stress responses.