Characterization of the bark storage protein gene (JcBSP) family in the perennial woody plant Jatropha curcas and the function of JcBSP1 in Arabidopsis thaliana

Ming-Jun Zhang; Qiantang Fu; Mao-Sheng Chen; Huiying He; Mingyong Tang; Jun Ni; Yan-Bin Tao; Zeng-Fu Xu

doi:10.7717/peerj.12938

Characterization of the bark storage protein gene (JcBSP) family in the perennial woody plant Jatropha curcas and the function of JcBSP1 in Arabidopsis thaliana

PeerJ. 2022 Feb 8:10:e12938. doi: 10.7717/peerj.12938. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Ming-Jun Zhang^{1

2}, Qiantang Fu², Mao-Sheng Chen², Huiying He², Mingyong Tang², Jun Ni³, Yan-Bin Tao², Zeng-Fu Xu^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Plant Resources and Sustainable Use, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, The Innovative Academy of Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan, China.
³ State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-Bioresources, College of Forestry, Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, China.

Abstract

Background: Bark storage protein (BSP) plays an important role in seasonal nitrogen cycling in perennial deciduous trees. However, there is no report on the function of BSP in the perennial woody oil plant Jatropha curcas.

Methods: In this study, we identified six members of JcBSP gene family in J. curcas genome. The patterns, seasonal changes, and responses to nitrogen treatment in gene expression of JcBSPs were detected by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Overexpression of JcBSP1 in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana was driven by a constitutive cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S RNA promoter.

Results: JcBSP members were found to be expressed in various tissues, except seeds. The seasonal changes in the total protein concentration and JcBSP1 expression in the stems of J. curcas were positively correlated, as both increased in autumn and winter and decreased in spring and summer. In addition, the JcBSP1 expression in J. curcas seedlings treated with different concentrations of an NH₄NO₃ solution was positively correlated with the NH₄NO₃ concentration and application duration. Furthermore, JcBSP1 overexpression in Arabidopsis resulted in a phenotype of enlarged rosette leaves, flowers, and seeds, and significantly increased the seed weight and yield in transgenic plants.

Keywords: Arabidopsis thaliana; Jatropha curcas; JcBSP gene family; Nitrogen induction; Overexpression; Seasonal nitrogen cycling.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Arabidopsis* / genetics
Flowers / genetics
Jatropha* / genetics
Plant Bark / metabolism
Plant Proteins / genetics

Substances

Plant Proteins

Grants and funding

This work was supported by funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31771605) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. kfj-brsn-2018-6-008). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.