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Title: FUSCA3 activates triacylglycerol accumulation in Arabidopsis seedlings and tobacco BY2 cells

Journal Article · · The Plant Journal
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1111/tpj.13233· OSTI ID:1427683
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [2]
  1. Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi (China). College of Agronomy; Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Department of Plant Biology and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
  2. Michigan State Univ., East Lansing, MI (United States). Department of Plant Biology and Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center
  3. Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi (China). College of Agronomy

Triacylglycerol (TAG) is the main storage lipid in plant seeds and the major form of plant oil used for food and, increasingly, for industrial and biofuel applications. Several transcription factors, including FUSCA3 (At3 g26790, FUS3), are associated with embryo maturation and oil biosynthesis in seeds. However, the ability of FUS3 to increase TAG biosynthesis in other tissues has not been quantitatively examined. Here, we evaluated the ability of FUS3 to activate TAG accumulation in non-seed tissues. Overexpression of FUS3 driven by an estradiol-inducible promoter increased oil contents in Arabidopsis seedlings up to 6% of dry weight; more than 50-fold over controls. Eicosenoic acid, a characteristic fatty acid of Arabidopsis seed oil, accumulated to over 20% of fatty acids in cotyledons and leaves. These large increases depended on added sucrose, although without sucrose TAG increased three- to four-fold. Inducing the expression of FUS3 in tobacco BY2 cells also increased TAG accumulation, and co-expression of FUS3 and diacylglycerol acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1) further increased TAG levels to 4% of dry weight. BY2 cell growth was not altered by FUS3 expression, although Arabidopsis seedling development was impaired, consistent with the ability of FUS3 to induce embryo characteristics in non-seed tissues. Microarrays of Arabidopsis seedlings revealed that FUS3 overexpression increased the expression of a higher proportion of genes involved in TAG biosynthesis than genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis or other lipid pathways. Together these results provide additional insights into FUS3 functions in TAG metabolism and suggest complementary strategies for engineering vegetative oil accumulation.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
FC02-07ER64494
OSTI ID:
1427683
Journal Information:
The Plant Journal, Vol. 88, Issue 1; ISSN 0960-7412
Publisher:
Society for Experimental BiologyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 64 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Deciphering the transcriptional regulatory networks that control size, color, and oil content in Brassica rapa seeds journal May 2020
Transcriptome analysis of pecan seeds at different developing stages and identification of key genes involved in lipid metabolism journal April 2018
WRINKLED1, a “Master Regulator” in Transcriptional Control of Plant Oil Biosynthesis journal July 2019
Deciphering the transcriptional regulatory networks that control size, color, and oil content in Brassica rapa seeds journal May 2020
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