The Electronic Plant Gene Register

Chen, Cuiying; Meyermans, Hugo; Doorsselaere, Jan Van; Montagu, Marc Van; Boerjan, Wout

doi:10.1104/pp.117.2.717

Cited by 20 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Our project focuses on alternative ways of producing tung oil-like fatty acids and other high-value industrial oils by engineering tung oil biosynthetic genes into oilseed crops. Many tung oil biosynthetic genes have been identified in our laboratories, including those coding for diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGAT) [12] , [13] , delta-12 oleic acid desaturase (FAD2) and delta-12 fatty acid conjugase (FADX) [14] , omega-3 fatty acid desaturase (FAD3) [15] , acyl-CoA binding proteins [16] , cytochrome b5 [17] , cytochrome b5 reductase [18] , glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) [19] , plastid-type omega-3 fatty acid desaturase (TnDES2) [20] , aquaporin [21] and glutaredoxin [21] . However, selection of target genes for genetic engineering of plant oils is difficult because oil is biosynthesized by at least 10 enzymatic steps and each step is catalyzed by multiple isozymes [22] – [24] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification, Classification and Differential Expression of Oleosin Genes in Tung Tree (Vernicia fordii)

et al. 2014

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Triacylglycerols (TAG) are the major molecules of energy storage in eukaryotes. TAG are packed in subcellular structures called oil bodies or lipid droplets. Oleosins (OLE) are the major proteins in plant oil bodies. Multiple isoforms of OLE are present in plants such as tung tree (Vernicia fordii), whose seeds are rich in novel TAG with a wide range of industrial applications. The objectives of this study were to identify OLE genes, classify OLE proteins and analyze OLE gene expression in tung trees. We identified five tung tree OLE genes coding for small hydrophobic proteins. Genome-wide phylogenetic analysis and multiple sequence alignment demonstrated that the five tung OLE genes represented the five OLE subfamilies and all contained the “proline knot” motif (PX5SPX3P) shared among 65 OLE from 19 tree species, including the sequenced genomes of Prunus persica (peach), Populus trichocarpa (poplar), Ricinus communis (castor bean), Theobroma cacao (cacao) and Vitis vinifera (grapevine). Tung OLE1, OLE2 and OLE3 belong to the S type and OLE4 and OLE5 belong to the SM type of Arabidopsis OLE. TaqMan and SYBR Green qPCR methods were used to study the differential expression of OLE genes in tung tree tissues. Expression results demonstrated that 1) All five OLE genes were expressed in developing tung seeds, leaves and flowers; 2) OLE mRNA levels were much higher in seeds than leaves or flowers; 3) OLE1, OLE2 and OLE3 genes were expressed in tung seeds at much higher levels than OLE4 and OLE5 genes; 4) OLE mRNA levels rapidly increased during seed development; and 5) OLE gene expression was well-coordinated with tung oil accumulation in the seeds. These results suggest that tung OLE genes 1–3 probably play major roles in tung oil accumulation and/or oil body development. Therefore, they might be preferred targets for tung oil engineering in transgenic plants.

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