The effect of AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE 7 over-expression on seed fatty acid biosynthesis, storage oil accumulation and the transcriptome in Arabidopsis thaliana

  • Author(s) / Creator(s)
  • ABSTRACT
    Seed fatty acids (FAs) and triacylglycerol (TAG) contribute to many functions in plants, and seed lipids have broad food, feed and industrial applications. As a result, an enormous amount of attention has been dedicated towards uncovering the regulatory cascade responsible for the fine44 tuning of the lipid biosynthetic pathway in seeds, which is regulated in part through the action of LEAFY COTYLEDON1, ABSCISSIC ACID INSENSITIVE 3, FUSCA3 and LEC2 (LAFL) transcription factors. Although AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE 7 (AIL7) is involved in meristematic function and shoot phyllotaxy, its effect in the context of lipid biosynthesis has yet to be assessed. Here we generated AIL7 seed-specific over-expression lines and found that they exhibited significant alterations in FA composition and decreased total lipid accumulation in seeds. Seeds and seedlings from transgenic lines also exhibited morphological deviations compared to wild-type. Correspondingly, RNA-Seq analysis demonstrated that the expression of many genes related to FA biosynthesis and TAG breakdown were significantly altered in developing siliques from transgenic lines compared to wild-type plants. The seed-specific over expression of AIL7 also altered the expression profiles of many genes related to starch metabolism, photosynthesis and stress response, suggesting further roles for AIL7 in plants. These findings not only advance our understanding of the lipid biosynthetic pathway in seeds, but also provide evidence for additional functions of AIL7, which could prove valuable in downstream breeding and/or metabolic engineering endeavours.

  • Date created
    2021-01-01
  • Subjects / Keywords
  • Type of Item
    Article (Published)
  • DOI
    https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-9zz3-8984
  • License
    Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International
  • Language
  • Citation for previous publication
    • Singer, S. D., Jayawardhane, K. N., Jiao, C., Weselake, R. J., & Chen, G. (2021). The effect of AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE 7 over-expression on seed fatty acid biosynthesis, storage oil accumulation and the transcriptome in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Reports, 40(9), 1647–1663. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-021-02715-3