Modulation of Transcriptome and Metabolome of Tobacco by Arabidopsis Transcription Factor, AtMYB12, Leads to Insect Resistance

Overview

Journal Plant Physiol

Specialty Physiology

Date 2010 Mar 2

PMID 20190095

Citations 97

Authors

Prashant Misra

Ashutosh Pandey

Manish Tiwari

K Chandrashekar

Om Prakash Sidhu

Mehar Hasan Asif

Debasis Chakrabarty

Pradhyumna Kumar Singh

Prabodh Kumar Trivedi

Pravendra Nath

Rakesh Tuli

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Flavonoids synthesized by the phenylpropanoid pathway participate in myriad physiological and biochemical processes in plants. Due to the diversity of secondary transformations and the complexity of the regulation of branched pathways, single gene strategies have not been very successful in enhancing the accumulation of targeted molecules. We have expressed an Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) transcription factor, AtMYB12, in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), which resulted in enhanced expression of genes involved in the phenylpropanoid pathway, leading to severalfold higher accumulation of flavonols. Global gene expression and limited metabolite profiling of leaves in the transgenic lines of tobacco revealed that AtMYB12 regulated a number of pathways, leading to flux availability for the phenylpropanoid pathway in general and flavonol biosynthesis in particular. The tobacco transgenic lines developed resistance against the insect pests Spodoptera litura and Helicoverpa armigera due to enhanced accumulation of rutin. Suppression of flavonol biosynthesis by artificial microRNA reversed insect resistance of the AtMYB12-expressing tobacco plants. Our study suggests that AtMYB12 can be strategically used for developing safer insect pest-resistant transgenic plants.

Citing Articles

A premature termination codon mutation in the onion gene is associated with both glossy leaves and thrip resistance.

Lei P, Pan M, Kang S, Zeng P, Ma Y, Peng Y Hortic Res. 2025; 12(4):uhaf006.

PMID: 40078716 PMC: 11896967. DOI: 10.1093/hr/uhaf006.

Integrated Metabolomics and Transcriptome Analysis of Anthocyanin Biosynthetic Pathway in .

Ye Q, Liu F, Feng K, Fu T, Li W, Zhang C Plants (Basel). 2025; 14(1.

PMID: 39795374 PMC: 11723355. DOI: 10.3390/plants14010114.

R2R3-MYB transcription factors RrMYB12 and RrMYB111 regulate the accumulation of flavonols and anthocyanins.

Shi Y, Lu T, Lai S, Li S, Zhang L, Liu R Front Plant Sci. 2025; 15:1477278.

PMID: 39741671 PMC: 11685124. DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1477278.

Identification of Black Cumin () MicroRNAs by Next-Generation Sequencing and Their Implications in Secondary Metabolite Biosynthesis.

Uriostegui-Pena A, Reyes-Calderon A, Gutierrez-Garcia C, Srivastava A, Sharma A, Paul S Plants (Basel). 2024; 13(19).

PMID: 39409679 PMC: 11478739. DOI: 10.3390/plants13192806.

CaLAP1 and CaLAP2 orchestrate anthocyanin biosynthesis in the seed coat of Cicer arietinum.

Singh S, Pal L, Rajput R, Chhatwal H, Singh N, Chattopadhyay D Planta. 2024; 260(2):38.

PMID: 38951258 DOI: 10.1007/s00425-024-04470-7.

References

Korkina L . Phenylpropanoids as naturally occurring antioxidants: from plant defense to human health. Cell Mol Biol (Noisy-le-grand). 2007; 53(1):15-25. View

Stracke R, Ishihara H, Huep G, Barsch A, Mehrtens F, Niehaus K . Differential regulation of closely related R2R3-MYB transcription factors controls flavonol accumulation in different parts of the Arabidopsis thaliana seedling. Plant J. 2007; 50(4):660-77. PMC: 1976380. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2007.03078.x. View

Thoison O, Sevenet T, Niemeyer H, Russell G . Insect antifeedant compounds from Nothofagus dombeyi and N. pumilio. Phytochemistry. 2004; 65(14):2173-6. DOI: 10.1016/j.phytochem.2004.04.002. View

Tohge T, Nishiyama Y, Hirai M, Yano M, Nakajima J, Awazuhara M . Functional genomics by integrated analysis of metabolome and transcriptome of Arabidopsis plants over-expressing an MYB transcription factor. Plant J. 2005; 42(2):218-35. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-313X.2005.02371.x. View

Broun P . Transcription factors as tools for metabolic engineering in plants. Curr Opin Plant Biol. 2004; 7(2):202-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.pbi.2004.01.013. View

Mohnen D, Shinshi H, Felix G, Meins F . Hormonal regulation of beta1,3-glucanase messenger RNA levels in cultured tobacco tissues. EMBO J. 1985; 4(7):1631-5. PMC: 554397. DOI: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03830.x. View

Berrocal-Lobo M, Segura A, Moreno M, Lopez G, Garcia-Olmedo F, Molina A . Snakin-2, an antimicrobial peptide from potato whose gene is locally induced by wounding and responds to pathogen infection. Plant Physiol. 2002; 128(3):951-61. PMC: 152207. DOI: 10.1104/pp.010685. View

Aslan M, Deliorman Orhan D, Orhan N, Sezik E, Yesilada E . In vivo antidiabetic and antioxidant potential of Helichrysum plicatum ssp. plicatum capitulums in streptozotocin-induced-diabetic rats. J Ethnopharmacol. 2006; 109(1):54-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2006.07.001. View

Simmonds M . Flavonoid-insect interactions: recent advances in our knowledge. Phytochemistry. 2003; 64(1):21-30. DOI: 10.1016/s0031-9422(03)00293-0. View

10.

Niu Q, Lin S, Reyes J, Chen K, Wu H, Yeh S . Expression of artificial microRNAs in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana confers virus resistance. Nat Biotechnol. 2006; 24(11):1420-8. DOI: 10.1038/nbt1255. View

11.

Diaz Napal G, Carpinella M, Palacios S . Antifeedant activity of ethanolic extract from Flourensia oolepis and isolation of pinocembrin as its active principle compound. Bioresour Technol. 2009; 100(14):3669-73. DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2009.02.050. View

12.

Broeckling C, Huhman D, Farag M, Smith J, May G, Mendes P . Metabolic profiling of Medicago truncatula cell cultures reveals the effects of biotic and abiotic elicitors on metabolism. J Exp Bot. 2004; 56(410):323-36. DOI: 10.1093/jxb/eri058. View

13.

Yonekura-Sakakibara K, Tohge T, Matsuda F, Nakabayashi R, Takayama H, Niida R . Comprehensive flavonol profiling and transcriptome coexpression analysis leading to decoding gene-metabolite correlations in Arabidopsis. Plant Cell. 2008; 20(8):2160-76. PMC: 2553606. DOI: 10.1105/tpc.108.058040. View

14.

Muir S, Collins G, Robinson S, Hughes S, Bovy A, de Vos C . Overexpression of petunia chalcone isomerase in tomato results in fruit containing increased levels of flavonols. Nat Biotechnol. 2001; 19(5):470-4. DOI: 10.1038/88150. View

15.

. A simple and general method for transferring genes into plants. Science. 1985; 227(4691):1229-31. DOI: 10.1126/science.227.4691.1229. View

16.

Bovy A, De Vos R, Kemper M, Schijlen E, Almenar Pertejo M, Muir S . High-flavonol tomatoes resulting from the heterologous expression of the maize transcription factor genes LC and C1. Plant Cell. 2002; 14(10):2509-26. PMC: 151232. DOI: 10.1105/tpc.004218. View

17.

Wu X, Zhu W, Lu Z, Xia Y, Yang J, Zou F . The effect of rutin on arginine kinase: inhibition kinetics and thermodynamics merging with docking simulation. Int J Biol Macromol. 2008; 44(2):149-55. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2008.11.007. View

18.

Trivedi R, Kumar A, Gupta V, Kumar S, Nagar G, Romero J . Effects of Egb 761 on bone mineral density, bone microstructure, and osteoblast function: Possible roles of quercetin and kaempferol. Mol Cell Endocrinol. 2009; 302(1):86-91. DOI: 10.1016/j.mce.2009.01.011. View

19.

Takahashi Y, Nagata T . parB: an auxin-regulated gene encoding glutathione S-transferase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992; 89(1):56-9. PMC: 48174. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.89.1.56. View

20.

Mehrtens F, Kranz H, Bednarek P, Weisshaar B . The Arabidopsis transcription factor MYB12 is a flavonol-specific regulator of phenylpropanoid biosynthesis. Plant Physiol. 2005; 138(2):1083-96. PMC: 1150422. DOI: 10.1104/pp.104.058032. View