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Overexpression of SsDGAT2 from Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb Increases Seed Oleic Acid Level in Arabidopsis

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Abstract

Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb is one of the most important oil trees in China. Diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGATs) esterify sn-1, 2-diacylglycerol with a long-chain fatty acyl-CoA, the last step and the rate-limiting step of triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis in prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. At least 74 DGAT2 sequences from 61 organisms have been identified, but the SsDGAT2 gene had not been reported to date. To clarify the function of SsDGAT2, we cloned the CDS (rapid amplification of cDNA end) of SsDGAT2 by RACE technology. The full-length CDS of SsDGAT2 contains 1011 bp and encodes a protein of 336 amino acids. Recombinant SsDGAT2 restored TAG biosynthesis to the yeast strain Saccharomyces cerevisiae H1246 TAG-deficient mutant and preferentially incorporated unsaturated C18 fatty acids into lipids. To investigate the biotechnological potential of SsDGAT2, it was expressed under the control of the 35S promoter in Arabidopsis Col-4. The oleic acid content increased by 50 % in transgenic plants relative to the control. The results indicated that most of the oleic acid increase was at the expense of linolenic acid (18:3) content, which suggests that high-oleic-acid-content seeds can be created by the overexpression of SsDGAT2 in S. sebiferum (L.) Roxb.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31200516), the Outstanding Youth Scientific Research Foundation held by the Hunan Education Department (13B150), the Hunan Province Outstanding Youth Teacher Cultivation Project (2014gg04), the Youth Scientific Research Foundation of Central South University of Forestry & Technology (QJ2011046B), and the Foundation of the Project for Talents Introduction of the Central South University of Forestry & Technology (104-0182). At the same time, we also thank Professor Aizhong Liu (Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences) providing the yeast strain H1246 and the corresponding parental line for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Bioscience and Biotechnology of Central South University of Forestry and Technology, 410004, Changsha, China

    YiQiang Wang, Dan Peng & Bo Zhou

  2. Key Laboratory of Cultivation and Protection for Non-Wood Forest Trees, Ministry of Education, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, 410004, Changsha, China

    Dan Peng, Lin Zhang, XiaoFeng Tan, DeYi Yuan & Bo Zhou

  3. Key laboratory of Cultivation and Protection for Non-Wood Forest Tree, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, 410004, Changsha, China

    Dan Peng, Lin Zhang, XiaoFeng Tan, DeYi Yuan & Bo Zhou

  4. Collaborative Innovation Center of Cultivation and Utilization for Non-Wood Forest Tree, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, 410004, Changsha, China

    Lin Zhang, XiaoFeng Tan, DeYi Yuan & Bo Zhou

  5. Key laboratory of plant function gnomonic for development and regulation, Hunan University, 410082, Changsha, China

    XuanMing Liu

  6. Academy of Seed Industry of Hunan Yahua, Changsha, 410013, Hunan, China

    Dan Peng

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  1. YiQiang Wang
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Correspondence to Bo Zhou.

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Wang, Y., Peng, D., Zhang, L. et al. Overexpression of SsDGAT2 from Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb Increases Seed Oleic Acid Level in Arabidopsis . Plant Mol Biol Rep 34, 638–648 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-015-0954-y

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