MYB96 stimulates C18 fatty acid elongation in Arabidopsis seeds

• Published in: Plant biotechnology reports Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 161 - 166
• Main Authors: Lee, Hong Gil, Park, Bo-Yeon, Kim, Hyun Uk, Seo, Pil Joon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.05.2015; Springer Nature B.V; 한국식물생명공학회
• Subjects: Accumulation; Agricultural biotechnology; Agriculture; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Cell Biology; Fatty acids; Gene expression; Life Sciences; Plant Biochemistry; Plant growth; Plant Sciences; Seeds; Short Communication; Transcription factors; 농학; Very-long-chain fatty acid (VLCFA); Seed oil; MYB96; Fatty acid elongation; FAE1
• ISSN: 1863-5466; 1863-5474
• DOI: 10.1007/s11816-015-0352-9

Very-long-chain fatty acids (VLCFAs) are important precursors of many cellular hydrophobic substances involved in many aspects of plant growth and development. They are synthesized by a microsomal fatty acid elongation (FAE) system through sequential additions of C2 moiety to long-chain fatty acid. While the FAE process has been intensively investigated, its regulatory mechanism remains to be elucidated. Here, we report that the R2R3-type MYB96 transcription factor regulates fatty acid elongation in seeds by directly modulating expression of FAE1 , an well-known seed-specific β-ketoacyl–CoA synthase (KCS) that catalyzes the first condensation reaction in VLCFA elongation. The FAE1 gene was up-regulated in MYB96 -overexpressing activation-tagging myb96 - ox seeds, but down-regulated in MYB96 -deficient myb96 - 1 seeds. Consistently, accumulation of C20 and C22 fatty acids was significantly elevated in myb96 - ox seeds, whereas their accumulation was reduced in myb96 - 1 seeds. These findings suggest that MYB96 directly regulates FAE1 to stimulate C20 accumulation possibly in the regulation of seed maturation and development.