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A MADS-box gene, EgMADS21, negatively regulates EgDGAT2 expression and decreases polyunsaturated fatty acid accumulation in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.)

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EgMADS21 regulates PUFA accumulation in oil palm.

Abstract

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the most productive world oil crop, accounting for 36% of world plant oil production. However, the molecular mechanism of the transcriptional regulation of fatty acid accumulation and lipid synthesis in the mesocarp of oil palm by up- or downregulating the expression of genes involved in related pathways remains largely unknown. Here, an oil palm MADS-box gene, EgMADS21, was screened in a yeast one-hybrid assay using the EgDGAT2 promoter sequence as bait. EgMADS21 is preferentially expressed in early mesocarp developmental stages in oil palm fruit and presents a negative correlation with EgDGAT2 expression. The direct binding of EgMADS21 to the EgDGAT2 promoter was confirmed by electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Subsequently, transient expression of EgMADS21 in oil palm protoplasts revealed that EgMADS21 not only binds to the EgDGAT2 promoter but also negatively regulates the expression of EgDGAT2. Furthermore, EgMADS21 was stably overexpressed in transgenic oil palm embryoids by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. In three independent transgenic lines, EgDGAT2 expression was significantly suppressed by the expression of EgMADS21. The content of linoleic acid (C18:2) in the three transgenic embryoids was significantly decreased, while that of oleic acid (C18:1) was significantly increased. Combined with the substrate preference of EgDGAT2 identified in previous research, the results demonstrate the molecular mechanism by which EgMADS21 regulates EgDGAT2 expression and ultimately affects fatty acid accumulation in the mesocarp of oil palm.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information files.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the following investigators for helping with the tissue culture and fatty acid analysis: Ms. Li Gao and Mr. Lizhi Chen at Hainan University.

Funding

This research was supported by the Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 2019CXTD397), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 31460213 and 31660222), National Key R&D Program of China,2018YFD1000500 and the Fundamental Research Funds for Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (No.1630052019001).

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  1. Si-yu Li and Qing Zhang contributed equally to the article.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Tropical Crops, Hainan University, Hainan, 570228, China

    Si-yu Li, Qing Zhang, Yuan-hang Jin, Ji-xin Zou, Yu-sheng Zheng & Dong-dong Li

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  1. Si-yu Li
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  2. Qing Zhang
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  3. Yuan-hang Jin
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  4. Ji-xin Zou
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Contributions

DL and YZ contributed substantially to the experimental design, conceived of the study and revised the article. SL, QZ and YJ carried out mainly experiments, drafted the manuscript, comprehensively analyzed data from all experimental results. DL gave substantial suggestions to the paper writing and language organization. JZ performed the mainly embryoids culture and transformation. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Dong-dong Li.

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Communicated by Günther Hahne.

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Li, Sy., Zhang, Q., Jin, Yh. et al. A MADS-box gene, EgMADS21, negatively regulates EgDGAT2 expression and decreases polyunsaturated fatty acid accumulation in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.). Plant Cell Rep 39, 1505–1516 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-020-02579-z

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