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Identification of GmGPATs and their effect on glycerolipid biosynthesis through seed-specific expression in soybean

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Abstract

Background

Genetic improvement of soybean oil content depends on in-depth study of the glycerolipid biosynthesis pathway. The first acylation reaction catalysed by glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) is the rate-limiting step of triacylglycerol biosynthesis. However, the genes encoding GPATs in soybean remain unknown.

Methods

We used a novel yeast genetic complementation system and seed-specific heterologous expression to identify GmGPAT activity and molecular function in glycerolipid biosynthesis.

Results

Sixteen GmGPAT genes were cloned by reverse transcription-PCR for screening in yeast genetic complementation. The results showed that GmGPAT9-2 could restore the conditional lethal double knockout mutant strain ZAFU1, and GmGPAT1-1 exhibited low acyltransferase activity in serial dilution assays. In addition, the spatiotemporal expression pattern of GmGPAT9-2 exhibited tissue specificity in leaves, flowers and seeds at different developmental stages. Furthermore, both the proportion of arachidic acid and erucic acid were significantly elevated in Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic lines containing the seed-specific GmGPAT9-2 compared wild type, but the oil content was not affected.

Conclusion

Together, our results provide reference data for future engineering of triacylglycerol biosynthesis and fatty acid composition improvement through GPATs in soybean.

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Availability of data and material

The data that support this study are available in the article and accompanying online supplementary material.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32071929, 32100209), Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (LY21C130001, Q21C020003) and Scientific Research Foundation of Zhejiang A and F University (2021FR044).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. The Key Laboratory for Quality Improvement of Agricultural Products of Zhejiang Province, College of Advanced Agricultural Sciences, Zhejiang A & F University, 311300, Hangzhou, China

      Hongbo Liu, Linyan Wei, Jinbo Zhu, Bingxin Zhang, Yi Gan & Yueping Zheng

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    1. Hongbo Liu
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    2. Linyan Wei
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    3. Jinbo Zhu
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    4. Bingxin Zhang
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    5. Yi Gan
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    6. Yueping Zheng
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    Contributions

    HL and PC conceived the research plan. LW completed most of the experiments. HL, LW and YG participated in the data analysis. JZ, BZ and YZ participated in the screening of yeast genetic complementation and transformant construction. HL and LW wrote the manuscript with input from all the authors. All authors reviewed and approved the submitted version.

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    Correspondence to Hongbo Liu.

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    Liu, H., Wei, L., Zhu, J. et al. Identification of GmGPATs and their effect on glycerolipid biosynthesis through seed-specific expression in soybean. Mol Biol Rep 49, 9585–9592 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-022-07852-w

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