Department of Plant Science, McGill University, Ste Anne de Bellevue, QC, Canada.
Department of Bioresource Engineering, McGill University, Ste Anne de Bellevue, QC, Canada.
Plant Biotechnol J. 2024 Dec;22(12):3459-3472. doi: 10.1111/pbi.14467. Epub 2024 Sep 25.
The endeavour to elevate the nutritional value of oat (Avena sativa) by altering the oil composition and content positions it as an optimal crop for fostering human health and animal feed. However, optimization of oil traits on oat through conventional breeding is challenging due to its quantitative nature and complexity of the oat genome. We introduced two constructs containing three key genes integral to lipid biosynthesis and/or regulatory pathways from Arabidopsis (AtWRI1 and AtDGAT1) and Sesame (SiOLEOSIN) into the oat cultivar 'Park' to modify the fatty acid composition. Four homozygous transgenic lines were generated with a transformation frequency of 7%. The expression of these introduced genes initiated a comprehensive transcriptional reprogramming in oat grains and leaves. Notably, endogenous DGAT, WRI1 and OLEOSIN genes experienced upregulation, while genes associated with fatty acid biosynthesis, such as KASII, SACPD and FAD2, displayed antagonistic expression patterns between oat grains and leaves. Transcriptomic analyses highlighted significant differential gene expression, particularly enriched in lipid metabolism. Comparing the transgenic oat plants with the wild type, we observed a remarkable increase of up to 34% in oleic acid content in oat grains. Furthermore, there were marked improvements in the total oil content in oat leaves, as well as primary metabolites changes in both oat grains and leaves, while maintaining homeostasis in the transgenic oat plants. These findings underscore the effectiveness of genetic engineering in manipulating oat oil composition and content, offering promising implications for human consumption and animal feeding through oat crop improvement programmes.
通过改变油的组成和含量来提高燕麦（Avena sativa）的营养价值，使燕麦成为促进人类健康和动物饲料的最佳作物。然而，由于燕麦的数量性质和基因组的复杂性，通过传统的育种方法来优化油的特性是具有挑战性的。我们将三个关键基因的两个构建体（来自拟南芥（AtWRI1 和 AtDGAT1）和芝麻（SiOLEOSIN）的脂质生物合成和/或调控途径）引入燕麦品种“Park”中，以改变脂肪酸组成。生成了四个转化频率为 7%的纯合转基因系。这些引入基因的表达在燕麦籽粒和叶片中引发了全面的转录重编程。值得注意的是，内源性 DGAT、WRI1 和 OLEOSIN 基因上调，而与脂肪酸生物合成相关的基因，如 KASII、SACPD 和 FAD2，在燕麦籽粒和叶片之间表现出拮抗的表达模式。转录组分析突出了显著的差异基因表达，特别是在脂质代谢中。将转基因燕麦植株与野生型进行比较，我们观察到燕麦籽粒中油酸含量增加了 34%。此外，燕麦叶片中的总油含量以及两种谷物和叶片中的初级代谢物都有明显改善，同时保持了转基因燕麦植株的内稳态。这些发现强调了遗传工程在操纵燕麦油组成和含量方面的有效性，通过燕麦作物改良计划为人类消费和动物饲养提供了有希望的应用前景。
