A full-length WRKY cDNA, designated as HbWRKY1, was isolated from the latex in Hevea brasiliensis. The deduced HbWRKY1 contained 303 amino acid residues with one WRKY domain and one zinc-finger motif, and shared high identity to WRKYs from other plant species. The phylogenetic tree showed that HbWRKY1 was classified into group-II WRKYs. Many cis-acting elements related to hormone and stress responses were identified in the 1,377 bp-length 5 0 regulatory sequence of HbWRKY1, including three W-boxes, three ABREs, two MYBCOREs, one PRE, two OSE2ROOTNODULEs, one SEBFCONSSTPR10A and two HSEs. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed more significant accumulation of HbWRKY1 transcripts in latex and flowers than in bark, leaves and roots. The transcription of HbWRKY1 in latex was strongly induced by tapping and some wounding-signal molecules such as ethylene and jasmonic acid, and Oidium heveae attack, PEG and abscisic acid also strongly induced its expression in the leaves of H. brasiliensis. All these results suggest that HbWRKY1 mainly functions in responding to mechanical wounding, some wounding-related hormones, drought and O. heveae attack as an ethephoninduced WRKY transcriptional factor in H. brasiliensis.