RESUMEN
Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) produces two oils of major economic importance, commonly referred to as palm oil and palm kernel oil, extracted from the mesocarp and the endosperm, respectively. While lauric acid predominates in endosperm oil, the major fatty acids (FAs) of mesocarp oil are palmitic and oleic acids. The oil palm embryo also stores oil, which contains a significant proportion of linoleic acid. In addition, the three tissues display high variation for oil content at maturity. To gain insight into the mechanisms that govern such differences in oil content and FA composition, tissue transcriptome and lipid composition were compared during development. The contribution of the cytosolic and plastidial glycolytic routes differed markedly between the mesocarp and seed tissues, but transcriptional patterns of genes involved in the conversion of sucrose to pyruvate were not related to variations for oil content. Accumulation of lauric acid relied on the dramatic up-regulation of a specialized acyl-acyl carrier protein thioesterase paralog and the concerted recruitment of specific isoforms of triacylglycerol assembly enzymes. Three paralogs of the WRINKLED1 (WRI1) transcription factor were identified, of which EgWRI1-1 and EgWRI1-2 were massively transcribed during oil deposition in the mesocarp and the endosperm, respectively. None of the three WRI1 paralogs were detected in the embryo. The transcription level of FA synthesis genes correlated with the amount of WRI1 transcripts and oil content. Changes in triacylglycerol content and FA composition of Nicotiana benthamiana leaves infiltrated with various combinations of WRI1 and FatB paralogs from oil palm validated functions inferred from transcriptome analysis.
Asunto(s)
Arecaceae/genética , Ácidos Grasos/análisis , Frutas/genética , Semillas/química , Semillas/genética , Proteínas de Arabidopsis/genética , Arecaceae/crecimiento & desarrollo , Arecaceae/metabolismo , Secuencia de Bases , Endospermo/genética , Endospermo/metabolismo , Ácidos Grasos/biosíntesis , Frutas/metabolismo , Perfilación de la Expresión Génica/métodos , Regulación de la Expresión Génica de las Plantas , Ácidos Láuricos/análisis , Ácidos Láuricos/metabolismo , Lípidos/análisis , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Aceite de Palma , Filogenia , Hojas de la Planta/genética , Hojas de la Planta/metabolismo , Aceites de Plantas , Proteínas de Plantas/genética , Proteínas de Plantas/metabolismo , Plantas Modificadas Genéticamente , Semillas/metabolismo , Tioléster Hidrolasas/genética , Tioléster Hidrolasas/metabolismo , Nicotiana/genética , Factores de Transcripción/genética , Factores de Transcripción/metabolismo , Triglicéridos/metabolismoRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Cell separation that occurs during fleshy fruit abscission and dry fruit dehiscence facilitates seed dispersal, the final stage of plant reproductive development. While our understanding of the evolutionary context of cell separation is limited mainly to the eudicot model systems tomato and Arabidopsis, less is known about the mechanisms underlying fruit abscission in crop species, monocots in particular. The polygalacturonase (PG) multigene family encodes enzymes involved in the depolymerisation of pectin homogalacturonan within the primary cell wall and middle lamella. PG activity is commonly found in the separation layers during organ abscission and dehiscence, however, little is known about how this gene family has diverged since the separation of monocot and eudicots and the consequence of this divergence on the abscission process. RESULTS: The objective of the current study was to identify PGs responsible for the high activity previously observed in the abscission zone (AZ) during fruit shedding of the tropical monocot oil palm, and to analyze PG gene expression during oil palm fruit ripening and abscission. We identified 14 transcripts that encode PGs, all of which are expressed in the base of the oil palm fruit. The accumulation of five PG transcripts increase, four decrease and five do not change during ethylene treatments that induce cell separation. One PG transcript (EgPG4) is the most highly induced in the fruit base, with a 700-5000 fold increase during the ethylene treatment. In situ hybridization experiments indicate that the EgPG4 transcript increases preferentially in the AZ cell layers in the base of the fruit in response to ethylene prior to cell separation. CONCLUSIONS: The expression pattern of EgPG4 is consistent with the temporal and spatial requirements for cell separation to occur during oil palm fruit shedding. The sequence diversity of PGs and the complexity of their expression in the oil palm fruit tissues contrast with data from tomato, suggesting functional divergence underlying the ripening and abscission processes has occurred between these two fruit species. Furthermore, phylogenetic analysis of EgPG4 with PGs from other species suggests some conservation, but also diversification has occurred between monocots and eudicots, in particular between dry and fleshy fruit species.
Asunto(s)
Arecaceae/enzimología , Arecaceae/genética , Frutas/crecimiento & desarrollo , Frutas/genética , Regulación de la Expresión Génica de las Plantas , Familia de Multigenes , Poligalacturonasa/genética , Arecaceae/efectos de los fármacos , Arecaceae/crecimiento & desarrollo , Etilenos/farmacología , Frutas/efectos de los fármacos , Perfilación de la Expresión Génica , Regulación Enzimológica de la Expresión Génica/efectos de los fármacos , Regulación de la Expresión Génica de las Plantas/efectos de los fármacos , Genes de Plantas/genética , Hibridación in Situ , Datos de Secuencia Molecular , Aceite de Palma , Filogenia , Aceites de Plantas/metabolismo , Poligalacturonasa/química , Estructura Terciaria de Proteína , ARN Mensajero/genética , ARN Mensajero/metabolismo , Factores de TiempoRESUMEN
Fruit provide essential nutrients and vitamins for the human diet. Not only is the lipid-rich fleshy mesocarp tissue of the oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) fruit the main source of edible oil for the world, but it is also the richest dietary source of provitamin A. This study examines the transcriptional basis of these two outstanding metabolic characters in the oil palm mesocarp. Morphological, cellular, biochemical, and hormonal features defined key phases of mesocarp development. A 454 pyrosequencing-derived transcriptome was then assembled for the developmental phases preceding and during maturation and ripening, when high rates of lipid and carotenoid biosynthesis occur. A total of 2,629 contigs with differential representation revealed coordination of metabolic and regulatory components. Further analysis focused on the fatty acid and triacylglycerol assembly pathways and during carotenogenesis. Notably, a contig similar to the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seed oil transcription factor WRINKLED1 was identified with a transcript profile coordinated with those of several fatty acid biosynthetic genes and the high rates of lipid accumulation, suggesting some common regulatory features between seeds and fruits. We also focused on transcriptional regulatory networks of the fruit, in particular those related to ethylene transcriptional and GLOBOSA/PISTILLATA-like proteins in the mesocarp and a central role for ethylene-coordinated transcriptional regulation of type VII ethylene response factors during ripening. Our results suggest that divergence has occurred in the regulatory components in this monocot fruit compared with those identified in the dicot tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fleshy fruit model.