Modification of unsaturated fatty acid （FA） levels has been found to accompany multiple abiotic stress acclimations in many plants. Delta 12 fatty acid desaturase （FAD2） plays a critical role in the synthesis of polyunsaturated FAs in plant cells by converting oleic acid （18：1） to linoleic acid （18：2）. To better understand the relationship between polyunsaturated FAs metabolism and stress adaptation, the expression of FAD2 gene and changes in the FA compositions under various abiotic stresses and phytohormone treatments in Arabidopsis thaliana was investigated in this study. A 1 423-bp promoter of the FAD2 gene was cloned and characterized from Arabidopsis. Several putative hormone- and stress- inducible cis-elements were identified in the cloned promoter, which include salt- and pathogen-inducible GT-1 motifs, low-temperature-responsive MYC element, dehydration-responsive MYB element, and GA signaling related WRKY71OS element. To investigate the fine regulation of FAD2 gene, a recombinant FAD2 promoter-GUS construct was introduced into Arabidopsis plants. Histochemical study showed that the promoter was ubiquitously active and responsive not only to exogenous phytohormones including ABA, 24-eBL, and SA but also to darkness, temperature, salt, and sucrose stresses in Arabidopsis seedlings. Consistent with the expression change, treatments with exogenous 24-eBL, ABA, SA, and NaCl resulted in reduction in polyunsaturated FAs in Arabidopsis seedlings. These findings suggest that the FAD2 gene with a wide variety of putative response elements in its promoter is responsive to multiple phytohormones and abiotic stresses and therefore may play an important role in stress responses of Arabidopsis during plant growth and seed development.
Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase(Rubisco),which catalyzes the first step of CO fixation,is the ...
Xue-Long Wu,Zhi-Hong Liu,Si-Wei Yuan and Rui-Zhi Huang~* Key Laboratory of Plant Metabolic Engineering of Zhejiang Province,Institute of Virology and Biotechnology,Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences,310021 Hangzhou,China
Photosynthesis in“green”seeds, such as rapeseed, soybean, and Arabidopsis, plays a substantial role in the improved efficiency of oil accumulation. However, the molecular mecha-nism underpinning the coordinated expression of fatty acid （FA） biosynthesis-and photosynthesis-related genes in such develop-ing seeds remains to be elucidated. Here, we found that seed-specific overexpression of BnWRI1, a WRI1 homolog from rapeseed （Brassica napus cv. ZGY2）, results in enhanced chlorophyl content in developing seeds and increased oil content and seed mass in matured seeds. BnWRI1 was co-expressed with BnBCCP and BnCAB, two marker genes of FA biosynthesis and photosynthesis during seed development, respectively. Over-expression of BnWRI1 increased expression of both marker genes. Further, the nuclear-localized BnWRI1 protein was found to act as a transcription activator. It could bind to the GT1-element and/or GCC-box, which are widespread in the upstream regions of genes involved in FA biosynthesis and photosynthesis pathways. Accordingly, BnWRI1 could interact with promoters of BCCP2 and LHB1B2 in vivo. These results suggested that BnWRI1 may coordinate FA biosynthesis and photosynthesis pathways in developing seeds via directly stimulating expression of GT1-element and/or GCC-box containing genes.
