Solution structure of the DNA binding domain of Arabidopsis transcription factor WRKY11

Abstract

The Arabidopsis WRKY11 (AtWRKY11) protein is an important transcription factor involved in plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Its DNA-binding domain specifically binds to gene promoter regions harboring the W-box consensus motif. Herein we report the high-resolution structure of the AtWRKY11 DNA-binding domain (DBD) determined by solution NMR spectroscopy. The results show that AtWRKY11-DBD adopts an all-β fold comprising five β-strands packed in an antiparallel topology, stabilized by a zinc-finger motif. Structural comparison reveals that the long β₁-β₂ loop shows the highest structural variation from other available WRKY domain structures. Moreover, this loop was further found to contribute to the binding between AtWRKY11-DBD and W-box DNA. Our current study provides atomic-level structural basis for further understanding the structure-function relationship of plant WRKY proteins.