Abstract
In plants, sucrose synthase (SUS, EC 2.4.1.13) is widely considered a multifunctional protein involved in modulating sink strength, cellulose biosynthesis, and carbon partitioning. However, supporting genetic evidence regarding the role of SUS from bamboo in fiber development is lacking. Here, we obtained transgenic poplar lines overexpressing the bamboo BeSUS5 gene and conducted functional analysis. We found that overexpression of BeSUS5 enhanced the activity of SUS and significantly promoted the growth of the plants, especially xylem growth. In BeSUS5 overexpressed poplar plants, the total soluble sugar (TSS) and starch contents were decreased in leaves, while the cellulose content was increased in stems, indicating that overexpression of BeSUS5 might enhance the partitioning of carbon to cellulose in poplar. Consistent with these results, the expression of cellulose biosynthesis and phloem loading–related genes, such as cellulose synthase (CesA7), KORRIGAN (KOR), and sucrose transporter (SUT1), was upregulated in transgenic plants. As a result, transgenic poplars displayed not only an increase in cell wall thickness and cell wall crystallinity but also an altered stem fiber phenotype. Taken together, our results imply the vast potential of BeSUS5 for the genetic improvement of wood cellulose production and fiber quality.
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Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Found of China (31400257), the Science and Technology Project of Sichuan Province, China (18YYJC0920), and the Demonstration Project of the Industrial Chain of Sichuan Province, China (19Z21842).
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HY and WLL designed the experiments and performed the study; HY and CY drafted the manuscript; WLL performed the transgene study; HSL and LXG proposed and supervised the overall project. All authors read and approved the final version of this manuscript.
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The full-length CDS of BeSUS5 (accession number KJ525750) has been submitted to GenBank.
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Huang, Y., Wang, L., Hu, S. et al. Overexpression of the bamboo sucrose synthase gene (BeSUS5) improves cellulose production, cell wall thickness and fiber quality in transgenic poplar. Tree Genetics & Genomes 16, 75 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-01464-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11295-020-01464-w