State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Innovative Academy of Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P. R. China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China.
State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, The Innovative Academy of Seed Design, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, P. R. China.
Mol Plant. 2019 Oct 7;12(10):1315-1324. doi: 10.1016/j.molp.2019.08.004. Epub 2019 Sep 23.
Bird predation during seed maturation causes great loss to agricultural production. In this study, through GWAS analysis of a large-scale sorghum germplasm diversity panel, we identified that Tannin1, which encodes a WD40 protein functioning in the WD40/MYB/bHLH complex, controls bird feeding behavior in sorghum. Metabolic profiling analysis showed that a group of sorghum accessions preferred by birds contain mutated tan1-a/b alleles and accumulate significantly lower levels of anthocyanins and condensed tannin compounds. In contrast, a variety of aromatic and fatty acid-derived volatiles accumulate at significantly higher levels in these bird-preference accessions. We subsequently conducted both sparrow feeding and sparrow volatile attractant assays, which confirmed, respectively, the antifeedant and attractant functions of these differentially accumulated metabolites. In addition, the connection between the biosynthesis pathway of anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin and the pathway of fatty acid-derived volatile biosynthesis was demonstrated by discovering that Tannin1 complex modulates fatty acid biosynthesis by regulating the expression of SbGL2 in sorghum, thus affecting the accumulation of fatty acid-derived volatiles. Taken together, our study identified Tannin1 as the gene underlying the major locus controlling bird feeding behavior in sorghum, illustrating an example of the identification of an ecologically impactful molecular mechanism from field observation and providing significant insights into the chemistry of bird-plant ecological interactions.
鸟类在种子成熟过程中的捕食行为会对农业生产造成巨大损失。在这项研究中，通过对大规模高粱种质资源多样性群体的全基因组关联分析（GWAS），我们鉴定出 Tannin1 基因，该基因编码 WD40 蛋白，在 WD40/MYB/bHLH 复合物中起作用，控制高粱的鸟类摄食行为。代谢物分析表明，一组受鸟类喜爱的高粱品种含有突变的 tan1-a/b 等位基因，积累的花青素和缩合单宁化合物显著减少。相比之下，这些受鸟类偏好的品种中，大量芳香族和脂肪酸衍生的挥发物积累水平显著升高。随后，我们进行了麻雀取食和麻雀挥发性引诱剂实验，分别证实了这些差异积累代谢物的抗食和引诱作用。此外，通过发现 Tannin1 复合物通过调节高粱中 SbGL2 的表达来调节脂肪酸生物合成，从而影响脂肪酸衍生挥发物的积累，证实了花青素和原花青素生物合成途径与脂肪酸衍生挥发物生物合成途径之间的联系。综上所述，本研究鉴定出 Tannin1 是控制高粱鸟类摄食行为的主要基因座的基因，从田间观察鉴定出具有生态影响力的分子机制的实例，为鸟类-植物生态相互作用的化学提供了重要见解。
