title: The BnGRF2 gene (GRF2-like gene from Brassica napus) enhances seed oil production through regulating cell number and plant photosynthesis.
abstract: Seed yield and oil content are two important agricultural characteristics in oil crop breeding, and a lot of functional gene research is being concentrated on increasing these factors. In this study, by differential gene expression analyses between rapeseed lines (zy036 and 51070) which exhibit different levels of seed oil production, BnGRF2 (Brassica napus growth-regulating factor 2-like gene) was identified in the high oil-producing line zy036. To elucidate the possible roles of BnGRF2 in seed oil production, the cDNA sequences of the rapeseed GRF2 gene were isolated. The Blastn result showed that rapeseed contained BnGRF2a/2b which were located in the A genome (A1 and A3) and C genome (C1 and C6), respectively, and the dominantly expressed gene BnGRF2a was chosen for transgenic research. Analysis of 35S-BnGRF2a transgenic Arabidopsis showed that overexpressed BnGRF2a resulted in an increase in seed oil production of >50%. Moreover, BnGRF2a also induced a >20% enlargement in extended leaves and >40% improvement in photosynthetic efficiency because of an increase in the chlorophyll content. Furthermore, transcriptome analyses indicated that some genes associated with cell proliferation, photosynthesis, and oil synthesis were up-regulated, which revealed that cell number and plant photosynthesis contributed to the increased seed weight and oil content. Because of less efficient self-fertilization induced by the longer pistil in the 35S-BnGRF2a transgenic line, Napin-BnGRF2a transgenic lines were further used to identify the function of BnGRF2, and the results showed that seed oil production also could increase >40% compared with the wild-type control. The results suggest that improvement to economically important characteristics in oil crops may be achieved by manipulation of the GRF2 expression level.
authors.affiliation: Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan, PR China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hua
authors.forename: Hong-Li
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Gao-Miao
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Zhan
authors.forename: Rong-Jun
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lin-Bin
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: Xin-Fa
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Gui-Hua
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Han-Zhong
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D029688:Brassica napus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002452:Cell Count; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010788:Photosynthesis; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000378:metabolism*; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012639:Seeds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D010938:Plant Oils; D010940:Plant Proteins