A phenylalanine in DGAT is a key determinant of oil content and composition in maize

Zheng, Peizhong; Allen, William B.; Roesler, Keith R.; Williams, Mark E.; Zhang, Shirong; Li, Jiming; Glassman, Kimberly; Ranch, Jerry; Nubel, Douglas; Solawetz, William; Bhattramakki, Dinakar; Llaca, Víctor; Deschamps, Stéphane; Zhong, Gan-Yuan; Tarczynski, Mitchell C.; Shen, Bo

doi:10.1038/ng.85

Cited by 389 publications

(312 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Arabidopsis is only a model species and has not been subjected to artificial selection for agronomic traits such as seed oil content or yield. However, WRI1 and DGAT1 overexpression have been reported individually to boost seed oil content in maize (Zheng et al, 2008;Shen et al, 2010) and oilseed rape (Brassica napus; Weselake et al, 2008;Wu et al, 2014). Furthermore, suppression of SDP1 can also enhance seed oil content in oilseed rape (Kelly et al, 2013a) and Jatropha curcas (Kim et al, 2014).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multigene Engineering of Triacylglycerol Metabolism Boosts Seed Oil Content in Arabidopsis

et al. 2014

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Increasing the yield of oilseed crops is an important objective for biotechnologists. A number of individual genes involved in triacylglycerol metabolism have previously been reported to enhance the oil content of seeds when their expression is altered. However, it has yet to be established whether specific combinations of these genes can be used to achieve an additive effect and whether this leads to enhanced yield. Using Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) as an experimental system, we show that seed-specific overexpression of WRINKLED1 (a transcriptional regulator of glycolysis and fatty acid synthesis) and DIACYLGLYCEROL ACYLTRANSFERASE1 (a triacylglycerol biosynthetic enzyme) combined with suppression of the triacylglycerol lipase SUGAR-DEPENDENT1 results in a higher percentage seed oil content and greater seed mass than manipulation of each gene individually. Analysis of total seed yield per plant suggests that, despite a reduction in seed number, the total yield of oil is also increased.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multigene Engineering of Triacylglycerol Metabolism Boosts Seed Oil Content in Arabidopsis

et al. 2014

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“…Until recently, however, this had not been demonstrated in a major crop. Zheng et al (2008) reported that expression in maize of an ancestral maize DGAT1 allele, PH09B, under control of the oleosin promoter resulted in an increase in kernel oil of about 1% (by weight). We have also observed that increasing DGAT activity in maize, by expression of UrDGAT2A in the germ, elevated kernel oil content (D. Hawkins, D.L.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two studies conducted under greenhouse conditions, in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and maize (Zea mays), have demonstrated that increasing DGAT activity during seed development can impact the final oil content in seed (Jako et al, 2001;Zheng et al, 2008). In these studies, endogenous DGAT1 genes were overexpressed in their native hosts and achieved absolute increases in oil of 9% to 12% for Arabidopsis and approximately 1% for maize.…”

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confidence: 99%

Expression of Umbelopsis ramanniana DGAT2A in Seed Increases Oil in Soybean

et al. 2008

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Oilseeds are the main source of lipids used in both food and biofuels. The growing demand for vegetable oil has focused research toward increasing the amount of this valuable component in oilseed crops. Globally, soybean (Glycine max) is one of the most important oilseed crops grown, contributing about 30% of the vegetable oil used for food, feed, and industrial applications. Breeding efforts in soy have shown that multiple loci contribute to the final content of oil and protein stored in seeds. Genetically, the levels of these two storage products appear to be inversely correlated with an increase in oil coming at the expense of protein and vice versa. One way to overcome the linkage between oil and protein is to introduce a transgene that can specifically modulate one pathway without disrupting the other. We describe the first, to our knowledge, transgenic soy crop with increased oil that shows no major impact on protein content or yield. This was achieved by expressing a codon-optimized version of a diacylglycerol acyltransferase 2A from the soil fungus Umbelopsis (formerly Mortierella) ramanniana in soybean seed during development, resulting in an absolute increase in oil of 1.5% (by weight) in the mature seed.

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“…In Arabidopsis, AtDGAT1 controls TAG biosynthesis in developing seeds, whereas AtDGAT2 seems to have no obvious phenotype functionally (Shockey et al 2006;Zhang et al 2009). Similarly, the DGAT1s significantly regulate TAG accumulation in maize (Zheng et al 2008), Tropaeolum majus L. (Xu et al 2008) and soybean (Li et al 2010b). Further, studies have shown that the DGAT2s play a critical role in the accumulation of unusual FAs (such as epoxy and hydroxy fatty acids) in castor bean (Kroon et al 2006), tung tree (Shockey et al 2006) and Vernonia (Li et al 2010a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of DGAT1 and DGAT2 from Jatropha curcas and their functions in storage lipid biosynthesis

Yang

Wang

et al. 2014

Functional Plant Biol.

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Abstract. Diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGATs) catalyse the final step of triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis of the Kennedy pathway, and play a critical role during TAG accumulation in developing oleaginous seeds. In this study, the molecular cloning and characterisation of two DGAT genes, JcDGAT1 and JcDGAT2, from jatropha (Jatropha curcas L., a potential biodiesel plant) is presented. Using heterogonous overexpression techniques, both JcDGAT1 and JcDGAT2 were able to restore TAG biosynthesis in a yeast mutant H1246 strain, and enhance the quantity of TAG biosynthesis by 16.6 and 14.3%, respectively, in strain INVSc1. In transgenic tobacco, overexpression of JcDGAT1 and JcDGAT2 resulted in an increase in seed oil content of, respectively, 32.8 and 31.8%. Further, the functional divergence of JcDGAT1 and JcDGAT2 in TAG biosynthesis was demonstrated by comparing the fatty acid compositions in both the transgenic yeast and tobacco systems. In particular, JcDGAT2 incorporated a 2.5-fold higher linoleic acid content into TAG than JcDGAT1 in transgenic yeast and exhibited a significant linoleic acid substrate preference in both yeast and tobacco. This study provides new insights in understanding the molecular mechanisms of DGAT genes underlying the biosynthesis of linoleic acids and TAG in plants.

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A phenylalanine in DGAT is a key determinant of oil content and composition in maize

Cited by 389 publications

References 20 publications

Multigene Engineering of Triacylglycerol Metabolism Boosts Seed Oil Content in Arabidopsis

Multigene Engineering of Triacylglycerol Metabolism Boosts Seed Oil Content in Arabidopsis

Expression of Umbelopsis ramanniana DGAT2A in Seed Increases Oil in Soybean

Characterisation of DGAT1 and DGAT2 from Jatropha curcas and their functions in storage lipid biosynthesis

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