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Article|26 Mar 2014|OPEN
Genome and transcriptome analysis of the grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) WRKY gene family
Min Wang1 , Alessandro Vannozzi2 , Gang Wang1 , Ying-Hai Liang1 , Giovanni Battista Tornielli3 , Sara Zenoni3 , Erika Cavallini3 , Mario Pezzotti3 and Zong-Ming (Max) Cheng,1 ,
1Fruit Crop Systems Biology Laboratory, College of Horticulture, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China
2Department of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro, PD, Italy
3Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Università degli Studi di Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy
*Corresponding author. E-mail: zmc@njau.edu.cn

Horticulture Research 1,
Article number: 16 (2014)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/hortres.2014.16
Views: 1070

Received: 13 Feb 2014
Revised: 13 Feb 2014
Accepted: 14 Feb 2014
Published online: 26 Mar 2014

Abstract

The plant WRKY gene family represents an ancient and complex class of zinc-finger transcription factors (TFs) that are involved in the regulation of various physiological processes, such as development and senescence, and in plant response to many biotic and abiotic stresses. Despite the growing number of studies on the genomic organisation of WRKY gene family in different species, little information is available about this family in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.). In the present study, a total number of 59 putative grapevine WRKY transcription factors (VvWRKYs) were identified based on the analysis of various genomic and proteomic grapevine databases. According to their structural and phylogentic features, the identified grapevine WRKY transcription factors were classified into three main groups. In order to shed light into their regulatory roles in growth and development as well as in response to biotic and abiotic stress in grapevine, the VvWRKYs expression profiles were examined in publicly available microarray data. Bioinformatics analysis of these data revealed distinct temporal and spatial expression patterns of VvWRKYs in various tissues, organs and developmental stages, as well as in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. To also extend our analysis to situations not covered by the arrays and to validate our results, the expression profiles of selected VvWRKYs in response to drought stress, Erysiphe necator (powdery mildew) infection, and hormone treatments (salicilic acid and ethylene), were investigated by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR). The present study provides a foundation for further comparative genomics and functional studies of this important class of transcriptional regulators in grapevine.