Abstract
Key message
The nuclear Factor YB of Carthamus tinctorius L. increased the content of unsaturated fatty acids by regulating the expression of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and oil accumulation.
Abstract
Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) seed oil is rich in linoleic acid and is widely used in food and medicine. Therefore, key genes regulating oil synthesis were mined through genetic engineering to provide genetic resources for improving oil content. Based on the conserved domain of the NF-YB, we screened and identified 14 CtNF-YB transcription factors in the safflower genome and divided them into three subfamilies through phylogenetic analysis. Regulatory motif analysis of the CtNF-YB promoter revealed specific cis-regulatory elements related to abiotic stress, growth, and development. Expression analysis of CtNF-YB family genes showed that non-Leafy Cotyledon 1(non-LEC1) genes were highly expressed in roots, leaves, and flowers; Leafy Cotyledon 1(LEC1) genes were highly expressed during early seed development; and Dr1-like genes were highly expressed in roots, stems, and leaves. CtNF-YB12 was identified as a LEC1 transcription factor based on phylogeny and BLAST alignment. Heterologous CtNF-YB12 expression in Arabidopsis thaliana increased seed pod length and seed size. Moreover, CtNF-YB12 overexpression increased the oil content of seeds, upregulated genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis and glycolysis, and altered the content of unsaturated fatty acids, including oleic acid (C18:1), linoleic acid (C18:2), and linolenic acid (C18:3), as well as of sucrose, fructose, and glucose. CtNF-YB12 may increase the oil content by regulating key enzyme genes of oil synthesis, so it can be used as a reliable target.
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Data availability
All the data associated with manuscript is included in this paper and its supplementary materials. The whole-genome sequence of Carthamus tinctorius is derived from NCBI (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov), accession number PRJNA399628.
Abbreviations
- FA:
-
Fatty acids
- TAG:
-
Triacylglycerol
- LEC1:
-
Leafy cotyledon 1
- FUS3:
-
FUSCA3
- ABI3:
-
Abscisic acid insensitive 3
- WRI1:
-
WRINKLE1
- RPKM:
-
Reads per kilobase per million mapped reads
- qRT-PCR:
-
Quantitative real-time PCR
- GRAVY:
-
Grand average of hydropathicity
- Rc:
-
Ricinus communis
- Ha:
-
Helianthus annuus
- Os:
-
Oryza sativa
- BP:
-
Biological process
- MF:
-
Molecular function
- CC:
-
Cellular component
- DPA:
-
Days post-anthesis
- Kda:
-
Kilo dalton
- WT:
-
Wild type
- NF-Y:
-
Nuclear factor-F
- ER:
-
Endoplasmic reticulum
- At:
-
Arabidopsis thaliana
- Ah:
-
Arachis hypogaea
- Ct:
-
Carthamus tinctorius L.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the great experimental support of the Public Platform of Bioreactor and Drug Development Research Center, College of Life Sciences, Jilin Agricultural University.
Funding
This work was funded by National Outstanding Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China (31801396) and Education Department of Jilin Province (JJKH20200319KJ).
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JY conceived and designed the experiments. SND conducted most of the experiments and wrote the manuscript. RNW, CLT, LXL, SW, CJ, YLL, RD, and LND participated in experiments and data collection. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Deng, S., Wang, R., Tao, C. et al. Genome-wide analysis of CtNF-YB and lipid synthesis regulation of CtNF-YB12 in Carthamus tinctorius L.. Plant Cell Rep 42, 57–72 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-022-02936-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-022-02936-0