Differentially evolved glucosyltransferases determine natural variation of rice flavone accumulation and UV-tolerance

作者：Peng, Meng; Shahzad, Raheel; Gul, Ambreen; Subthain, Hizar; Shen, Shuangqian; Lei, Long; Zheng, Zhigang; Zhou, Junjie; Lu, Dandan; Wang, Shouchuang; Nishawy, Elsayed; Liu, Xianqing; Tohge, Takayuki; Fernie, Alisdair R.; Luo, Jie^*

来源：Nature Communications, 2017, 8(1): 1975.

DOI：10.1038/s41467-017-02168-x

• GENOME-WIDE ASSOCIATION
• ULTRAVIOLET-B RADIATION
• ARABIDOPSIS
• GENE
• BIOSYNTHESIS
• CULTIVARS
• L.
• GLYCOSYLTRANSFERASES
• DIVERSIFICATION
• ANTHOCYANINS

Decoration of phytochemicals contributes to the majority of metabolic diversity in nature, whereas how this process alters the biological functions of their precursor molecules remains to be investigated. Flavones, an important yet overlooked subclass of flavonoids, are most commonly conjugated with sugar moieties by UDP-dependent glycosyltransferases (UGTs). Here, we report that the natural variation of rice flavones is mainly determined by OsUGT706D1 (flavone 7-O-glucosyltransferase) and OsUGT707A2 (flavone 5-O-glucosyl-transferase). UV-B exposure and transgenic evaluation demonstrate that their allelic variation contributes to UV-B tolerance in nature. Biochemical characterization of over 40 flavonoid UGTs reveals their differential evolution in angiosperms. These combined data provide biochemical insight and genetic regulation into flavone biosynthesis and additionally suggest that adoption of the positive alleles of these genes into breeding programs will likely represent a potential strategy aimed at producing stress-tolerant plants.

• 出版日期2017-12-7
• 单位海南大学; 华中农业大学