Congyu Zhang, Yuan Wang, Tingting An, Mingxiu Chen, Wenyan Liu, Fangying Zhou, Xinling Chen, Jikang Sun, Jia Liu
UNLABELLED: Zanthoxylum dissitum Hemsl. (Zanthoxylum) is a traditional Chinese medicine plant usually used to treat gynecological diseases, and isoquinoline alkaloids (IQA) are its most valuable components. In this study, the WRKY transcription factor ZdWRKY1 was identified from Zanthoxylum, and its role in regulating IQA biosynthesis was investigated. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the expression of ZdWRKY1 was positively correlated with the transcript levels of multiple key IQA biosynthetic genes, including ZdNCS, Zd4'OMT, Zd6OMT, ZdBBE, ZdDBOX, and ZdRNMT. Overexpression of ZdWRKY1 in transgenic hairy roots increased total alkaloid yield by 1.45-fold (15.07 mg/g) and magnoflorine by 1.37-fold (289.68 µg/g) compared to controls. Dual-luciferase reporter and yeast one-hybrid assays further confirmed that ZdWRKY1 activates the transcription of Zd4'OMT by binding to the W-box element in its promoter, thereby regulating the accumulation of IQA.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-026-01780-w.