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The accumulation of triacylglycerol (TAG) in vegetative tissues is necessary to adapt to changing temperatures. It has been hypothesized that TAG accumulation is required as a storage location for maladaptive membrane lipids. The TAG acyltransferase family has five members (DIACYLGLYCEROL ACYLTRANSFERSE1/2/3 and PHOSPHOLIPID:DIACYLGLYCEROL ACYLTRANSFERASE1/2), and their individual roles during temperature challenges have either been described conflictingly or not at all. Therefore, we used Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) loss of function mutants in each acyltransferase to investigate the effects of temperature challenge on TAG accumulation, plasma membrane integrity, and temperature tolerance. All mutants were tested under one high- and two low-temperature regimens, during which we quantified lipids, assessed temperature sensitivity, and measured plasma membrane electrolyte leakage. Our findings revealed reduced effectiveness in TAG production during at least one temperature regimen for all acyltransferase mutants compared to the wild type, resolved conflicting roles of pdat1 and dgat1 by demonstrating their distinct temperature-specific actions, and uncovered that plasma membrane integrity and TAG accumulation do not always coincide, suggesting a multifaceted role of TAG beyond its conventional lipid reservoir function during temperature stress.
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Plant and Algal Lipids: In All Their States and on All Scales
Lipids are essential for plant growth, signaling, development and environmental adaptation. Plant and algal lipids are also at the core of our energy economy, as polar lipids form photosynthetic membranes while neutral storage lipids (i.e. triacylglycerols, TAGs) represent an energy-dense reservoir of reduced carbon and fuel; as such, they additionally serve as important renewable sources of food, feed, biofuel and industrial feedstocks. These benefits, which are critical to human society, underscore the importance of understanding how lipids are produced and function within plants. Recent advances in lipidomics and lipid imaging, coupled with the development of high throughput, low-cost genome sequencing tools and genome-editing techniques now enable a deeper appreciation of the role of lipids at all scales and in all their states (e.g. as membrane, storage and signaling components). This Special Issue of Plant and Cell Physiology provides a holistic view of plant and algal lipids, especially in terms of their adaptation to environmental challenges. This issue includes three review papers and 12 research articles covering areas from the regulation of lipid synthesis, enzyme structural determinants to the role of lipids in stress management and its relation to photosynthesis.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1845175
- PAR ID:
- 10520812
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford Academic
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Plant And Cell Physiology
- Volume:
- 65
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 0032-0781
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 823 to 825
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract We present unresolved questions in plant abiotic stress biology as posed by 15 research groups with expertise spanning eco-physiology to cell and molecular biology. Common themes of these questions include the need to better understand how plants detect water availability, temperature, salinity, and rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels; how environmental signals interface with endogenous signaling and development (e.g. circadian clock and flowering time); and how this integrated signaling controls downstream responses (e.g. stomatal regulation, proline metabolism, and growth versus defense balance). The plasma membrane comes up frequently as a site of key signaling and transport events (e.g. mechanosensing and lipid-derived signaling, aquaporins). Adaptation to water extremes and rising CO2 affects hydraulic architecture and transpiration, as well as root and shoot growth and morphology, in ways not fully understood. Environmental adaptation involves tradeoffs that limit ecological distribution and crop resilience in the face of changing and increasingly unpredictable environments. Exploration of plant diversity within and among species can help us know which of these tradeoffs represent fundamental limits and which ones can be circumvented by bringing new trait combinations together. Better defining what constitutes beneficial stress resistance in different contexts and making connections between genes and phenotypes, and between laboratory and field observations, are overarching challenges.more » « less
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Abstract Plant lipids represent a fascinating field of scientific study, in part due to a stark dichotomy in the limited fatty acid (FA) composition of cellular membrane lipids vs the huge diversity of FAs that can accumulate in triacylglycerols (TAGs), the main component of seed storage oils. With few exceptions, the strict chemical, structural, and biophysical roles imposed on membrane lipids since the dawn of life have constrained their FA composition to predominantly lengths of 16–18 carbons and containing 0–3 methylene-interrupted carbon-carbon double bonds in cis-configuration. However, over 450 “unusual” FA structures can be found in seed oils of different plants, and we are just beginning to understand the metabolic mechanisms required to produce and maintain this dichotomy. Here we review the current state of plant lipid research, specifically addressing the knowledge gaps in membrane and storage lipid synthesis from 3 angles: pathway fluxes including newly discovered TAG remodeling, key acyltransferase substrate selectivities, and the possible roles of “metabolons.”more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/pcp/pcae061
