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The overexpression of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) genes that encode the branched-chain amino acid transferase modulate flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana

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Abstract

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The overexpression of CsBCATs promotes flowering in Arabidopsis by regulating the expression of flowering time genes.

Abstract

The branched-chain amino acid transferases (BCATs) play an important role in the metabolism of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), such as isoleucine, leucine, and valine. They function in both the synthesis and the degradation of this class of amino acids. We identified and characterized the three BCAT genes in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.). The tissue-specific expression profiling in cucumber plants revealed that CsBCAT2 and CsBCAT7 were highly expressed in the reproductive tissues, whereas CsBCAT3 expression was highly detected in the vegetative tissues. The subcellular localization patterns of three CsBCATs were observed in the mitochondria. The functional analyses of CsBCATs showed that CsBCAT2 and CsBCAT3 restored the growth of bat1Δ/bat2Δ double knockout yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and CsBCAT3 and CsBCAT7 with different substrate preferences acted in a reverse reaction. The transgenic approach demonstrated that the overexpression of the three CsBCATs resulted in early flowering phenotypes, which were associated with the upregulation of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT) and SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1 (SOC1) in a manner in which they were dependent on GIGANTEA (GI)/CONSTANS (CO) and SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE (SVP)/FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC) modules. Our results, which are observed in conjunction, suggest that there is an interconnection between BCAT genes that function in BCAA metabolism and the flowering time in plants.

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Abbreviations

BCAA:

Branched-chain amino acid

BCAT:

Branched-chain aminotransferase

CO:

CONSTANS

FLC:

FLOWERING LOCUS C

FT:

FLOWERING LOCUS T

GI:

GIGANTEA

SVP:

SHORT VEGETATIVE PHASE

SOC1:

SUPPRESSOR OF OVEREXPRESSION OF CONSTANS1

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea, and the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (Plant Molecular Breeding Center no. PJ01329601) of the Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

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Author notes

  1. Jeong Hwan Lee, Young-Cheon Kim and Youjin Jung contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioindustry and Bioresource Engineering, Plant Engineering Research Institute, Sejong University, 209 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05006, Republic of Korea

    Jeong Hwan Lee, Young-Cheon Kim, Youjin Jung, Ji Hoon Han, Chunying Zhang & Sanghyeob Lee

  2. Division of Life Sciences, Chonbuk National University, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, 54896, Republic of Korea

    Jeong Hwan Lee

  3. Division of Life Sciences, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea

    Cheol-Won Yun

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  1. Jeong Hwan Lee
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Communicated by Jeong Sheop Shin.

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Lee, J.H., Kim, YC., Jung, Y. et al. The overexpression of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) genes that encode the branched-chain amino acid transferase modulate flowering time in Arabidopsis thaliana. Plant Cell Rep 38, 25–35 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-018-2346-x

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