Plant immune responses are triggered by pattern recognition receptors that detect conserved pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or by resistance (R) proteins recognizing isolate-specific pathogen effectors. We show that in barley, intracellular mildew A (MLA) R proteins function in the nucleus to confer resistance against the powdery mildew fungus. Recognition of the fungal avirulenc...

Proteins containing the FxxxVQxhTG or VQ motif interact with WRKY transcription factors. Although VQ proteins have been reported in several plants, knowledge about their structures, functions and evolution is still very limited. Here, we report structural and functional analysis of the VQ protein family from soybean. Like Arabidopsis homologues, soybean VQ proteins bind only Group I and IIc WRK...

WRKY proteins comprise one of the largest transcription factor families in plants and form key regulators of many plant processes. This study presents the characterization of 58 WRKY genes from the castor bean (Ricinus communis L., Euphorbiaceae) genome. Compared with the automatic genome annotation, one more WRKY-encoding locus was identified and 20 out of the 57 predicted gene models were man...

WRKY and GCM1 are metal chelating DNA-binding domains (DBD) which share a four stranded fold. Using sensitive sequence searches, we show that this WRKY-GCM1 fold is also shared by the FLYWCH Zn-finger domain and the DBDs of two classes of Mutator-like element (MULE) transposases. We present evidence that they share a stabilizing core, which suggests a possible origin from a BED finger-like inte...

Despite the importance of WRKY genes in plant physiological processes, little is known about their roles in Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer. Forty-eight unigenes on this species were previously reported as WRKY transcripts using the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Subsequently, one gene that encodes PgWRKY1 protein belonging to subgroup II-d was cloned and functionally characterized. In t...

MEK2-SIPK/WIPK cascade, a Nicotiana benthamiana mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade, is an essential signaling pathway for plant immunity and involved in hypersensitive response (HR) accompanied by cell death. WRKY transcription factors as substrates of SIPK and WIPK have been isolated and implicated in HR cell death. Here, we show virus-induced gene silencing of WRKY genes compromi...

Microbial pathogens infect host cells by delivering virulence factors (effectors) that interfere with defenses. In plants, intracellular nucleotide-binding/leucine-rich repeat receptors (NLRs) detect specific effector interference and trigger immunity by an unknown mechanism. The Arabidopsis-interacting NLR pair, RRS1-R with RPS4, confers resistance to different pathogens, including Ralstonia s...

Rice blast disease is a major threat to rice production worldwide, but the mechanisms underlying rice resistance to the causal agent Magnaporthe oryzae remain elusive. Therefore, we carried out a transcriptome study on rice early defense response to M. oryzae. We found that the transcriptional profiles of rice compatible and incompatible interactions with M. oryzae were mostly similar, with gen...

The WRKY proteins are a superfamily of transcription factors with up to 100 representatives in Arabidopsis. Family members appear to be involved in the regulation of various physio-logical programs that are unique to plants, including pathogen defense, senescence and trichome development. In spite of the strong conservation of their DNA-binding domain, the overall structures of WRKY proteins ar...