Pepper is an agriculturally important crop that is highly affected by heat
stress, which causes major losses in crop productivity globally. In humid
conditions, heat stress increases pepper's susceptibility to diseases. A
group of enzymes called transcription factors (TF) play roles in the plant's
response to heat stress. WRKY TFs are observed to have varying levels of
expression in plants under heat stress, indicating the role of these TFs in
heat response.


Using qRT PCR, researcher Fengfeng Dang from Fujian Agriculture and Forestry
University in China and colleagues determined the expression of a WRKY gene
CaWRKY27 in pepper during heat stress and found a maximum of 3-fold increase
of gene expression than normal plants during stress. To confirm the role of
the gene in heat stress response, the gene was expressed in Arabidopsis
using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, and the researchers found
induction of gene expression when subjected to heat stress. Thus, they
concluded that the pepper gene CaWRKY27 might be involved in heat stress
response.



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