title: Seed-Specific Overexpression of the Pyruvate TransporterBASS2Increases Oil Content inArabidopsisSeeds.
abstract: Seed oil is important not only for human and animal nutrition, but also for various industrial applications. Numerous genetic engineering strategies have been attempted to increase the oil content per seed, but few of these strategies have involved manipulating the transporters. Pyruvate is a major source of carbon forde novofatty acid biosynthesis in plastids, and the embryo's demand for pyruvate is reported to increase during active oil accumulation. In this study, we tested our hypothesis that oil biosynthesis could be boosted by increasing pyruvate flux into plastids. We expressed the known plastid-localized pyruvate transporterBILE ACID:SODIUM SYMPORTER FAMILY PROTEIN 2(BASS2) under the control of a seed-specific soybean (Glycine max)glycinin-1promoter inArabidopsis thaliana. The resultant transgenicArabidopsisplants (OEs), which expressed high levels ofBASS2, produced seeds that were larger and heavier and contained 10-37% more oil than those of the wild type (WT), but were comparable to the WT seeds in terms of protein and carbohydrate contents. The total seed number did not differ significantly between the WT and OEs. Therefore, oil yield per plant was increased by 24-43% in the OE lines compared to WT. Taken together, our results demonstrate that seed-specific overexpression of the pyruvate transporterBASS2promotes oil production inArabidopsisseeds. Thus, manipulating the level of specific transporters is a feasible approach for increasing the seed oil content.
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Plant Cell Biology Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and Technology Pohang, South Korea.
authors.forename: Eun-Jung
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Plant Cell Biology Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and Technology Pohang, South Korea.
authors.forename: Minwoo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Plant Cell Biology Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and Technology Pohang, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jae-Ung
authors.initials: JU
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology and Environmental Microbiology, CEA/Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique/Aix-Marseille University, CEA Cadarache Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Yonghua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li-Beisson
authors.affiliation: Division of Life Science, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University Saitama, Japan.
authors.forename: Ikuo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nishida
authors.affiliation: Division of Integrative Biosciences and Biotechnology, Plant Cell Biology Laboratory, Pohang University of Science and Technology Pohang, South Korea.
authors.forename: Youngsook
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lee
keywords: BASS2; bioenergy; pyruvate transporter; seed oil yield; seed-specific promoter