NtMYB12a acts downstream of sucrose to inhibit fatty acid accumulation
by targeting lipoxygenase and lipase genes in tobacco
Abstract
MYB12 promotes flavonol biosynthesis in plants by targeting several
early biosynthesis genes (EBGs) of this pathway. The transcriptions of
these EBGs are also induced by sucrose signal. However, whether MYB12 is
activated by sucrose signal and the other roles of MYB12 in regulating
plant metabolism are poorly understood. In this study, two NtMYB12 genes
were cloned from Nicotiana tabacum. Both NtMYB12a and NtMYB12b are
involved in regulating flavonoids biosynthesis in tobacco. NtMYB12a is
further shown to inhibit the accumulation of fatty acid (FA) in tobacco
leaves and seeds. Posttranslational activation and chromatin
immunoprecipitation assays demonstrate that NtMYB12a directly promotes
the transcriptions of NtLOX6, NtLOX5, NtSFAR4, and NtGDSL2, which encode
lipoxygenase (LOX) or lipase enzymes catalyzing the degradation of FA.
NtLOX6 and NtLOX5 are shown to prevent the accumulation of FA in the
mature seeds, and significantly reduced the percentage of
polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in tobacco. Sucrose stimulates the
transcription of NtMYB12a, and loss function of NtMYB12a partially
suppresses the decrease of FA content in tobacco seedlings caused by
sucrose treatment. The regulation of sucrose on the expression of NtLOX6
and NtGDSL2 genes is mediated by NtMYB12a, but those of NtLOX5 and
NtSFAR4 genes are independent of sucrose.