1. BRC Science Highlight
Plants with different lipid acyl composition demonstrate divergent yet co-evolved lipid transport components
Objective To develop bioenergy crops that produce extra lipids extractable as oil biofuel, we examined whether lipid transport complexes of plants with different lipid acyl composition have diverged in their function.
Approach
Identify the TRIGALACTOSYLDIACYLGLYCEROL (TGD1) orthologue in Brachypodium and identify its role in lipid transport
Characterize BdTGD1 using a computation approach integrated with extensive heterologous complementation analysis in an Arabidopsis tgd1-1 mutant
Results/Impacts
Constitutively expressed BdTGD1 only partially restored Arabidopsis tgd1-1 phenotypes. Chimeric constructs identified a 27-amino acid loop solely responsible for the incomplete complementation.
Co-evolutionary analysis and co-immunoprecipitation assays showed that this 27-amino acid loop in Arabidopsis TGD1 interacts with a domain of the TGD2 protein.
TGD proteins provide a striking example of the predictive power of co-evolution analysis for protein-protein interaction sites.
By furthering the molecular-level understanding of lipid transport in the model grass Brachypodium, we are advancing the potential to manipulate lipid production in bioenergy grass crops to improve crop value.
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Top panel: Topology of interaction components of the Arabidopsis TGD1, 2, 3 complex in the inner envelope membrane.
Bottom panel: Topology of the interaction between components of the heterologous complex containing BdTGD1 and AtTGD2 and AtTGD3 in the Arabidopsis tgd1-1 mutant expressing BdTGD1.
Yang, Y. et al. “Co-evolution of domain interactions in the chloroplast TGD1, 2, 3 lipid transfer complex specific to Brassicaceae and Poaceae plants.” The Plant Cell (2017) [DOI: /tpc ].
GLBRC June 2017