NMR assignments and characterization of the DNA-binding domain of Arabidopsis transcription factor WRKY11

Abstract

The WRKY proteins are a family of plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) that are widely involved in plant development and anti-stress responses. Arabidopsis WRKY11 (AtWRKY11) functions in regulating plant defense against abiotic stress and belongs to the IId subgroup of WRKY TFs. We herein report the expression, purification and preliminary structural characterization of AtWRKY11 DNA-binding domain (DBD) using solution NMR. Almost complete backbone chemical shift assignments of AtWRKY11-DBD have been obtained. Chemical shift-based secondary structure analysis suggests that AtWRKY11-DBD may exhibit local conformational differences from the X-ray structure of the C-terminal WRKY domain of AtWRKY1, particularly in the β1 and β5 strands. Our current study provides the basis for further structural and interactional studies.

Keywords

• Transcription factor
• WRKY
• DNA-Binding domain
• W-box
• Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
• Protein-DNA interaction