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Seed oil storage in three contrasted legume species: implications for oil improvement

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Abstract

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Cellular comparisons on three legume species indicate oil body size is factor in mediating oil content. Key transcription factors and oleosins determining seed oil content were identified in somatic embryos of Medicago.

Abstract

Legume seeds provide a significant oil alternative to meat fat needs. Increasing demand for oil nutrition in the context of sustainable crop production has stimulated the exploration of legume seed oil storage regulation. This study investigated the cellular characteristics of seed oil storage using three legume species i.e. Medicago truncatula, Glycine max and Pongamia pinnata representing different oil/protein ratios, and then examined in vitro approaches for assessing strategies in enhancing seed oil storage. A greater range of oil body sizes was in higher oil/protein content species, with highest species having the largest oil bodies; and the smallest oil body size being relatively similar across species, suggesting that the arrangement of oil body size may be factor in mediating oil content. The expression of four key transcription factors i.e. LEC1, L1L, FUS3 and ABI3, and four oleosin genes in determining seed oil content was compared in vivo and in vitro using somatic embryos in Medicago, along with cellular evidence of oil bodies in somatic embryos, indicating that somatic embryos may be suitable models for rapid assessment of seed oil enhancement. This study revealed the cellular characteristics for legume seed oil storage with different nutritional compositions, and identified the associated molecular basis for boosting seed oil storage via regulating oil body size. In addition, somatic embryogenesis may be an effective system for examining oil production by modifying the expression of candidate genes prior to in vivo testing.

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Abbreviations

TAG:

Triacylglycerol

DAA:

Days after anthesis

TEM:

Transmission electron microscopy

PD:

Proportional difference

SE:

Somatic embryogenesis

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Acknowledgement

The work is financially supported by National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2017YFD0301307), which was initially supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Grant CEO348212. XS are thankful to the China Scholarship Council for financial support for 2 yr study in Australia. We thank Prof. Peter Gresshoff for supplying the Pongamia seed.

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  1. Xiaoguang Shang and Yulei Zhu contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoguang Shang

  2. School of Agronomy, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, Anhui Province, People’s Republic of China

    Yulei Zhu, Xiang Chen & Youhong Song

  3. School of Environmental and Life Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Newcastle, 2308, Australia

    Xiaoguang Shang, Xin-Ding Wang, Ray J. Rose & Youhong Song

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  1. Xiaoguang Shang
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  2. Yulei Zhu
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Correspondence to Ray J. Rose or Youhong Song.

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11738_2020_3130_MOESM1_ESM.jpg

Supplementary file1 Supplementary Fig. S1 Alignments of seven oleosin amino acid sequences in Medicago truncatula. The red line indicated conserved oleosin superfamily domain (JPG 4842 kb)

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Shang, X., Zhu, Y., Chen, X. et al. Seed oil storage in three contrasted legume species: implications for oil improvement. Acta Physiol Plant 42, 141 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-020-03130-z

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