*4.5. Generation of CsWRKY7 Transgenic Plants*

Gene-specific primers 50 -CACCATGGCGGTCGAGCTAG-30 (Forward) and 50 -AGAAGACT CTAAAATGAGACCAGA-30 (Reverse) were used to clone the open reading frame (ORF) of *CsWRKY7*. The cloned products were inserted into pENTR/D-TOPO vector (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) and sequenced, then the right directional sequence was inserted into pH7FWG2 vector with LR clonase II enzyme mix (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. The binary vector was transferred into *Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain GV3101* by freeze–thaw method [51], and then this strain was introduced into Arabidopsis by floral dip approach [52]. T4 homozygous seeds were used for the experiments.

## *4.6. Phenotypic Analysis of Transgenic Arabidopsis*

For the germination assay, the seeds of WT and homozygous 35S::*CsWRKY7* transgenic lines were germinated on 1/2 Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium containing different concentrations of NaCl (0, 100, 150, 200 mM), mannitol (0, 100, 200 mM), ABA (0, 0.3, 1, 10 µM), and PEG (0, 15%) solution. After 48-h vernalization, seedlings were placed vertically in climate incubator, and germination rate was counted on the fourth day. The germination was defined when the roots break the seed coat by 1 mm. Photographs of the plates with 150 mM NaCl, 200 mM mannitol, 0.3 µM ABA, and 15% PEG were taken on the 7th day. Each plate consisted of WT and three transgenic lines with 50 seeds per line in 9 cm diameter plate. In root length assay, the seeds of WT and homozygous 35S::*CsWRKY7* transgenic lines were sown on 1/2 MS medium. After 48-h vernalization, the plates were placed vertically in climate incubator for 4 d. And then seedlings of similar size were transferred to different stress medium containing 150 mM NaCl, 200 mM Mannitol, 0.3 µM ABA, and 15% PEG, respectively. The root length was measured by ruler after 10-day growth. Arabidopsis seedlings were grown on 1/2 MS medium for 7–10 d, and then transplanted to sterilized soil in a growth chamber for the phenotype observation (16 h day/8 h night at 22/20 ◦C).

## *4.7. Quantitative Real-Time PCR Analysis in Transgenic Arabidopsis*

To investigate the mechanism by which *CsWRKY7* delayed flowering, the expression levels of flowering-related genes in transgenic Arabidopsis lines and wild type were calculated by the 2−∆Ct or 2 <sup>−</sup>∆∆Ct with the expression level of *Actin-2* gene (Gene Locus: At3g18780) as the reference control [49,50]. The primer sequence used for qRT-PCR are listed in Supplementary Table S1.
