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The SPATULA transcription factor regulates seed oil content by controlling seed specific genes in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract

Seed oil content, as a key economical trait, is influenced by multiple factors during seed development. Recent studies have established that control of seed development and seed oil content are interrelated process, controlled by transcription factors. Previously, a bHLH transcription factor SPATULA was reported to have pleiotropic effect on various organ development including root, leaf, and siliques but not seed development. Here, our results demonstrated a novel function of SPATULA to regulate seed size and seed fatty acids (FAs) content in Arabidopsis. The loss function of SPATULA significantly increased seed size, reduced seed FAs content. On the contrary, overexpression of SPATULA significantly increased the fatty acid contents without changing seed size. Ultrastructure analysis revealed that modification of seed FAs content by SPATULA was mainly through alteration of aleurone grain in seed embryo cells. Gene expression analyses provide a brief overview on the effects of SPATULA on key genes implicated in seed FAs content. These results demonstrated the SPATULA promotes fatty acid accumulation through inhibition of seed storage protein associate gene and induction of fatty acid associate genes during seed development in Arabidopsis. Our study had further extended the knowledge of SPATULA function, and it can provide new genetic resource for oil crop modification in Brassicaceae.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acids

GA:

Gibberellin acids

SPT:

SPATULA

GC:

Gas chromatography

TEM:

Transmission electronic microscopy

FAs:

Fatty acids

ER:

Endoplasmic reticulum

bHLH:

Basic helix-loop-helix

DAP:

Days after pollination

qPCR:

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction

Ct:

Cycle threshold

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by Major State Basic Research Development Program (973 Program, Grant No. 2015CB150200), the National Key R & D Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFD0100701), Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. LZ15C020001) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31570183; 31529001; 31370215).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Key Lab of Crop Germplasm, Department of Agronomy, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Bohan Liu, Changmei Hua, Ge Song, Minjie Wu, Renhong Cui, Aidong Zhang, Yihua Liu, Linli Huang, An Yan, Imran Ali, Ali Raza Khan & Yinbo Gan

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  1. Bohan Liu
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  2. Changmei Hua
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  3. Ge Song
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  4. Minjie Wu
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Correspondence to Yinbo Gan.

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Liu, B., Hua, C., Song, G. et al. The SPATULA transcription factor regulates seed oil content by controlling seed specific genes in Arabidopsis thaliana . Plant Growth Regul 82, 111–121 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10725-016-0243-2

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