Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) fatty acid synthase complex: β-Ketoacyl-[acyl carrier protein] reductase genes

Irene González-Thuillier, Mónica Venegas-Calerón*, Antonio J. Moreno-Pérez, Joaquín J. Salas, Rafael Garcés, Penny von Wettstein-Knowles, Enrique Martínez-Force

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

8 Citations (Scopus)
13 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Fatty acids play many roles in plants, but the function of some key genes involved in fatty acid biosynthesis in plant development are not yet properly understood. Here, we clone two β-ketoacyl-[ACP] reductase (KAR) genes from sunflower, HaKAR1 and HaKAR2, and characterize their functional roles. The enzymes cloned were the only two copies present in the sunflower genome. Both displayed a high degree of similarity, but their promoters infer different regulation. The two sunflower KAR genes were constitutively expressed in all tissues examined, being maximum in developing cotyledons at the start of oil synthesis. Over-expression of HaKAR1 in E. coli changed the fatty acid composition by promoting the elongation of C16:0 to C18:0 fatty acids. The enzymatic characterization of HaKAR1 revealed similar kinetic parameters to homologues from other oil accumulating species. The results point to a partially functional redundancy between HaKAR1 and HaKAR2. This study clearly revealed that these genes play a prominent role in de novo fatty acids synthesis in sunflower seeds.

Original languageEnglish
JournalPlant Physiology and Biochemistry
Volume166
Pages (from-to)689-699
Number of pages11
ISSN0981-9428
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors

Keywords

  • Fatty acid synthase (FAS)
  • Helianthus annuus
  • Oil biosynthesis
  • Short-chain dehydrogenases/reductases (SDRs) family
  • Substrate specificity
  • WRINKLED1 (WRI1)
  • β-ketoacyl-[ACP] reductase (KAR)

Cite this