Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University , East Lansing, MI 48824, USA.
Department of Biology, University of Florida , Gainesville, FL 32611, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2024 Nov 18;379(1914):20230367. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0367. Epub 2024 Sep 30.
Transcription factors (TFs) provide potentially powerful tools for plant metabolic engineering as they often control multiple genes in a metabolic pathway. However, selecting the best TF for a particular pathway has been challenging, and the selection often relies significantly on phylogenetic relationships. Here, we offer examples where evolutionary relationships have facilitated the selection of the suitable TFs, alongside situations where such relationships are misleading from the perspective of metabolic engineering. We argue that the evolutionary trajectory of a particular TF might be a better indicator than protein sequence homology alone in helping decide the best targets for plant metabolic engineering efforts. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of plant metabolism'.
转录因子（TFs）为植物代谢工程提供了极具潜力的工具，因为它们通常控制代谢途径中的多个基因。然而，选择特定途径的最佳 TF 一直具有挑战性，并且选择通常在很大程度上依赖于系统发育关系。在这里，我们提供了一些例子，说明进化关系如何促进合适 TF 的选择，以及在代谢工程的角度来看，这种关系是如何产生误导的。我们认为，在帮助确定植物代谢工程努力的最佳目标方面，特定 TF 的进化轨迹可能比蛋白质序列同源性本身更好的指标。本文是“植物代谢的进化”主题专刊的一部分。
