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Redirection of flux through the phenylpropanoid pathway by increased glucosylation of soluble intermediates

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Abstract

The phenylpropanoid pathway is used in biosynthesis of a wide range of soluble secondary metabolites including hydroxycinnamic acid esters, flavonoids and the precursors of lignin and lignans. In Arabidopsis thaliana a small cluster of three closely related genes, UGT72E1–E3, encode glycosyltransferases (GTs) that glucosylate phenylpropanoids in vitro. This study explores the effect of constitutively over-expressing two of these GTs (UGT72E1 and E3) in planta using the CaMV-35S promoter to determine whether phenylpropanoid homeostasis can be altered in a similar manner to that achieved by over-expression of UGT72E2 as previously reported. The data show that impact of over-expressing UGT72E3 in leaves is highly similar to that of UGT72E2 in that the production of massive levels of coniferyl and sinapyl alcohol 4-O-glucosides and a substantial loss in sinapoyl malate. In contrast, the over-expression of UGT72E1 in leaves led only to minimal changes in coniferyl alcohol 4-O-glucoside and no effect was observed on sinapoyl malate levels. In roots, over-expression of both UGTs led to some increase in the accumulation of the two glucosides. The cell specificity expression of the whole UGT72E gene cluster was investigated and interestingly only UGT72E3 was found to be wound and touch responsive.

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Abbreviations

GT:

Glycosyltransferase

OE:

Over-expression

UV:

Ultra-violet

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the members of Bowles’ group for fruitful discussions and their support. Meg Stark is thanked for helping to obtain the GUS stained root sections. This work was funded by United Kingdom Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council and the Garfield Weston Foundations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Centre for Novel Agricultural Products, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

    Alexandra Lanot, Denise Hodge, Eng-Kiat Lim, Fabián E. Vaistij & Dianna J. Bowles

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  1. Alexandra Lanot
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  2. Denise Hodge
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  3. Eng-Kiat Lim
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  4. Fabián E. Vaistij
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  5. Dianna J. Bowles
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dianna J. Bowles.

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425_2008_763_MOESM1_ESM.doc

[Comparison of changes in leaf soluble phenolic metabolite accumulation in the UGT72E gene cluster over-expressing plants (DOC 28 kb)

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Lanot, A., Hodge, D., Lim, EK. et al. Redirection of flux through the phenylpropanoid pathway by increased glucosylation of soluble intermediates. Planta 228, 609–616 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-008-0763-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-008-0763-8

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