WRKY42 and WRKY45-2 functioned as a transcriptional repressor and activator, respectively. The relative LUC activities in rice protoplasts after transformation with reporter plasmid and different effector plasmids were presented. bZIP23, which is a transcriptional activator, and WRKY13, which is a transcriptional repressor, were used as the positive control. REN was used as the internal control to standardize the difference of the transformation ratio. Data represent mean (three biological repeats with each repeat having three replicates) ± sd. The letters a and b indicate a significant difference was detected between the effector and empty vector (GAL4DB-VP16 or GAL4DB) at P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively.