The synergistic effects of TaAGP.L-B1 and TaSSIVb-D mutations in wheat lead to alterations of gene expression patterns and starch content in grain development

PLoS One. 2019 Oct 11;14(10):e0223783. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223783. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Starch is synthesized from a series of reactions catalyzed by enzymes. ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) initiates the synthesis pathway and synthesizes ADP-glucose, the substrate of starch synthase (SS), of which SSIV is an isoform. Mutations of the AGPase subunit and SSIV-coding genes affect starch content and cause variation in the number of granules. Here, we pyramided the functional mutation alleles of the AGPase subunit gene TaAGP.L-B1 and the SSIV-coding gene TaSSIVb-D to elucidate their synergistic effects on other key starch biosynthesis genes and their impact on starch content. Both the TaAGP.L-B1 and TaSSIVb-D genes were expressed in wheat grain development, and the expression level of TaAGP.L-B1 was higher than that of TaSSIVb-D. The TaAGP.L-B1 gene was downregulated in the agp.L-B1 single and agp.L-B1/ssIV-D double mutants at 12 to 18 days after flowering (DAF). TaSSIVb-D expression was significantly reduced at 6 DAF in both ssIV-D single and double mutants. In the agp.L-B1/ssIV-D double mutant, TaGBSSII was upregulated, while TaAGPSS, TaSSI, and TaSBEII were downregulated. Under the interaction of these genes, the total starch and amylopectin contents were significantly decreased in agp.L-B1 and agp.L-B1/ssIV-D mutants. The results suggested that the mutations of TaAGP.L-B1 and TaSSIVb-D genes resulted in variation in the expression patterns of the other four starch synthetic genes and led to a reduction in starch and amylopectin contents. These mutants could be used further as germplasm for resistant starch analysis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amylopectin / metabolism
  • Biosynthetic Pathways
  • Edible Grain / genetics
  • Edible Grain / growth & development
  • Edible Grain / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Plant
  • Glucose-1-Phosphate Adenylyltransferase / genetics*
  • Glucose-1-Phosphate Adenylyltransferase / metabolism
  • Mutation*
  • Plant Proteins / genetics
  • Plant Proteins / metabolism
  • Starch / biosynthesis*
  • Starch Synthase / genetics*
  • Starch Synthase / metabolism
  • Triticum / genetics
  • Triticum / growth & development*
  • Triticum / metabolism

Substances

  • Plant Proteins
  • Starch
  • Amylopectin
  • Starch Synthase
  • Glucose-1-Phosphate Adenylyltransferase

Grants and funding

This work is supported by NSFC project (31771791), the National Key Research and Development Program (2016YFD0102100), and China Agriculture Research System (CARS-03) of P. R. China. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.