Abstract
Arabidopsis harbors four UDP-glycosyltransferases that convert hydroxycinnamates (HCAs) to 1-O-β-glucose esters, UGT84A1 (encoded by At4g15480), UGT84A2 (At3g21560), UGT84A3 (At4g15490), and UGT84A4 (At4g15500). To elucidate the role of the individual UGT84A enzymes in planta we analyzed gene expression, UGT activities and accumulation of phenylpropanoids in Arabidopsis wild type plants, ugt mutants and overexpressing lines. Individual ugt84A null alleles did not significantly reduce the gross metabolic flux to the accumulating compounds sinapoylcholine (sinapine) in seeds and sinapoylmalate in leaves. For the ugt84A2 mutant, LC/MS analysis revealed minor qualitative and quantitative changes of several HCA choline esters and of disinapoylspermidine in seeds. Overexpression of individual UGT84A genes caused increased enzyme activities but failed to produce significant changes in the pattern of accumulating HCA esters. For UGT84A3, our data tentatively suggest an impact on cell wall-associated 4-coumarate. Exposure of plants to enhanced UV-B radiation induced the UGT84A-encoding genes and led to a transient increase in sinapoylglucose and sinapoylmalate concentrations.
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Abbreviations
- SGT:
-
UDP-glucose:sinapate glucosyltransferase
- HCA:
-
Hydroxycinnamates
- OE:
-
Overexpression
- KO:
-
Knock out
- UGT:
-
UDP-glycosyltransferase
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Acknowledgments
The authors thank Dr. Werner Heller (German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany) for help with the UV-B exposure experiments and for inspiring discussions during the course of this work. The technical assistance of Franziska Götsch is greatly acknowledged. This study was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Bonn, Germany).
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425_2008_768_MOESM1_ESM.doc
Analysis of UGT84A1 (At4g15480), UGT84A2 (At3g21560), UGT84A3 (At4g15490) and UGT84A4 (At4g15500) gene expression. RNA was extracted from the plant organs indicated and subjected to first strand RT-PCR. The resulting cDNA was used in Real-Time quantitative PCR with gene-specific primers. Data represent the mean +/-SE of 3 samples. The expression rates were normalized to 18S rRNA transcripts. (DOC 36 kb)
425_2008_768_MOESM2_ESM.doc
RT-PCR analysis of UGT84A1 (At4g15480), UGT84A2 (At3g21560), UGT84A3 (At4g15490) and UGT84A4 (At4g15500) gene expression in Arabidopsis wild-type plants, the individual ugt84A mutants (KO) and overexpressing lines (OE). RNA was extracted from rosette leaves and subjected to RT-PCR with gene-specific primers. Expression of actin is given as control (DOC 3095 kb)
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Meißner, D., Albert, A., Böttcher, C. et al. The role of UDP-glucose:hydroxycinnamate glucosyltransferases in phenylpropanoid metabolism and the response to UV-B radiation in Arabidopsis thaliana . Planta 228, 663–674 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-008-0768-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-008-0768-3