Over-expression of WRKY25 affects salt stress response and development in Arabidopsis thaliana

WRKY transcription factors belong to one of the largest transcription factor families in plants. Arabidopsis hsa seventy-four WRKYs and some of which are involved in plant development, signal transduction and stress responses. WRKYs can activate or repress expression of the downstream target genes and these gene through the binding to the cis-acting element W-box. However, the functions and the molecular mechanism of most plant WRKYs are still unknown. In this study, I investigated one of the WRKY transcription factors, WRKY25, with respect to its functions in salt stress response, lateral root development and flowering process. Salt and abscisic acid induced WRKY25 expression. In addition,the WRKY25 over-expression lines are more tolerance to salt stress. Furthermore, over-expression of WRKY25 inhibits lateral root development and promotes early flowering. Thus, WRKY25 may play an improtant role in salt stress response and plant development in Arabidopsis.