WRKY family is a group of transcription factors that widely exists in plants and is involved in plant growth and development. However, few systematic studies about Vitis vinifera WRKY transcription factors (VvWRKYs) responding to sugar and ABA (abscisic acid) were reported. In this study, the evolutionary relationship, chromosome location, conserved motif, gene structure and cis-acting elements of VvWRKYs were analyzed. Promoter cis-acting element analysis indicated multiple cis-acting elements responded to auxin, ABA and various signal pathway. The expression levels of VvWRKYs in different developmental periods of grape berries were analyzed by RNA-seq, suggesting the roles VvWRKYs playing in growth, color change and maturity process. Most VvWRKYs had higher expression at 30 DAB (days after bloom) and lower at 70 and 90 DAB. Co-expression network analysis appeared that VvWRKYs, sugar and ABA related genes clustered in one module, indicating that VvWRKYs may participate in sugar and ABA signaling. The expression of VvWRKYs in grape suspension cells analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR showed that VvWRKYs responded to ABA and sugar (sucrose, glucose and fructose) treatment. These results predicted the potential functions of VvWRKYs in the grape growth and development process, sugar and ABA signal pathway.

WRKY家族是一组转录因子，广泛存在于植物中，并参与植物的生长发育。然而，很少有关于葡萄对糖和ABA（脱落酸）反应的葡萄WRKY转录因子（VvWRKYs）的系统研究。本研究分析了VvWRKYs的进化关系，染色体位置，保守基序，基因结构和顺式作用元件。启动子顺式作用元件分析表明多个顺式作用元件对生长素，ABA和各种信号途径有反应。通过RNA-seq分析了葡萄果实不同发育时期VvWRKYs的表达水平，提示了VvWRKYs在葡萄生长，变色和成熟过程中的作用。大多数VvWRKY在30 DAB（开花后几天）表达较高，而在70和90 DAB较低。共表达网络分析显示，VvWRKYs，糖和ABA相关基因聚集在一个模块中，表明VvWRKYs可能参与糖和ABA信号传导。通过定量实时PCR分析葡萄悬浮细胞中VvWRKYs的表达表明，VvWRKYs对ABA和糖（蔗糖，葡萄糖和果糖）处理有反应。这些结果预测了VvWRKYs在葡萄生长发育过程，糖和ABA信号途径中的潜在功能。