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Article

Genome-Wide Identification of WRKY Genes in Artemisia annua: Characterization of a Putative Ortholog of AtWRKY40

by
Angelo De Paolis
1,*,
Sofia Caretto
1,*,
Angela Quarta
1,
Gian-Pietro Di Sansebastiano
2,
Irene Sbrocca
3,
Giovanni Mita
1,† and
Giovanna Frugis
3,†
1
Istituto di Scienze delle Produzioni Alimentari (ISPA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy
2
DiSTeBA (Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali), University of Salento, Campus ECOTEKNE, 73100 Lecce, Italy
3
Istituto di Biologia e Biotecnologia Agraria (IBBA), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via Salaria, Km 29.300, 00015 Rome, Italy
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Plants 2020, 9(12), 1669; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9121669
Submission received: 29 October 2020 / Revised: 25 November 2020 / Accepted: 26 November 2020 / Published: 28 November 2020
(This article belongs to the Section Plant Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology)
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Abstract

Artemisia annua L. is well-known as the plant source of artemisinin, a sesquiterpene lactone with effective antimalarial activity. Here, a putative ortholog of the Arabidopsis thaliana WRKY40 transcription factor (TF) was isolated via reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and rapid amplification of cDNA ends in A. annua and named AaWRKY40. A putative nuclear localization domain was identified in silico and experimentally confirmed by using protoplasts of A. annua transiently transformed with AaWRKY40-GFP. A genome-wide analysis identified 122 WRKY genes in A. annua, and a manually curated database was obtained. The deduced proteins were categorized into the major WRKY groups, with group IIa containing eight WRKY members including AaWRKY40. Protein motifs, gene structure, and promoter regions of group IIa WRKY TFs of A. annua were characterized. The promoter region of AaWRKY group IIa genes contained several abiotic stress cis-acting regulatory elements, among which a highly conserved W-box motif was identified. Expression analysis of AaWRKY40 compared to AaWRKY1 in A. annua cell cultures treated with methyl jasmonate known to enhance artemisinin production, suggested a possible involvement of AaWRKY40 in terpenoid metabolism. Further investigation is necessary to study the role of AaWRKY40 and possible interactions with other TFs in A. annua.
Keywords: Artemisia annua; WRKY transcription factor; genome-wide identification; phylogenetic analysis; expression analysis Artemisia annua; WRKY transcription factor; genome-wide identification; phylogenetic analysis; expression analysis

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MDPI and ACS Style

De Paolis, A.; Caretto, S.; Quarta, A.; Di Sansebastiano, G.-P.; Sbrocca, I.; Mita, G.; Frugis, G. Genome-Wide Identification of WRKY Genes in Artemisia annua: Characterization of a Putative Ortholog of AtWRKY40. Plants 2020, 9, 1669. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9121669

AMA Style

De Paolis A, Caretto S, Quarta A, Di Sansebastiano G-P, Sbrocca I, Mita G, Frugis G. Genome-Wide Identification of WRKY Genes in Artemisia annua: Characterization of a Putative Ortholog of AtWRKY40. Plants. 2020; 9(12):1669. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9121669

Chicago/Turabian Style

De Paolis, Angelo, Sofia Caretto, Angela Quarta, Gian-Pietro Di Sansebastiano, Irene Sbrocca, Giovanni Mita, and Giovanna Frugis. 2020. "Genome-Wide Identification of WRKY Genes in Artemisia annua: Characterization of a Putative Ortholog of AtWRKY40" Plants 9, no. 12: 1669. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9121669

APA Style

De Paolis, A., Caretto, S., Quarta, A., Di Sansebastiano, G.-P., Sbrocca, I., Mita, G., & Frugis, G. (2020). Genome-Wide Identification of WRKY Genes in Artemisia annua: Characterization of a Putative Ortholog of AtWRKY40. Plants, 9(12), 1669. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants9121669

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