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Higher endogenous methionine in transgenic Arabidopsis seeds affects the composition of storage proteins and lipids

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Abstract

Previous in vitro studies demonstrate that exogenous application of the sulfur-containing amino acid methionine into cultured soybean cotyledons and seedlings reduces the level of methionine-poor storage proteins and elevates those that are methionine-rich. However, the effect of higher endogenous methionine in seeds on the composition of storage products in vivo is not studied yet. We have recently produced transgenic Arabidopsis seeds having significantly higher levels of methionine. In the present work we used these seeds as a model system and profiled them for changes in the abundances of 12S-globulins and 2S-albumins, the two major groups of storage proteins, using 2D-gels and MALDI-MS detection. The findings suggest that higher methionine affects from a certain threshold the accumulation of several subunits of 12S-globulins and 2S-albumins, regardless of their methionine contents, resulting in higher total protein contents. The mRNA abundances of most of the genes encoding these proteins were either correlated or not correlated with the abundances of these proteins, implying that methionine may regulate storage proteins at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. The elevations in total protein contents resulted in reduction of total lipids and altered the fatty acid composition. Altogether, the data provide new insights into the regulatory roles of elevated methionine levels on seed composition.

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Abbreviations

ABA:

Abscisic acid

CGS:

CYSTATHIONINE γ-SYNTHASE

GC–MS:

Gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry

SSPs:

Seed storage proteins

WT:

Wild type

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Yael Hacham for her skillful help with experimental procedures and analyses. This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation Grants #231-09 and #1004/15.

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Author notes

  1. Sudhakar Pandurangan

    Present address: Breeding and Agronomy, Brandon Research and Development Centre, Brandon, MB, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, 32000, Haifa, Israel

    Hagai Cohen

  2. Laboratory of Plant Science, Migal Galilee Technology Center, 12100, Kiryat Shmona, Israel

    Hagai Cohen & Rachel Amir

  3. Genomics and Biotechnology, London Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, London, ON, Canada

    Agnieszka Pajak, Sudhakar Pandurangan & Frédéric Marsolais

  4. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada

    Sudhakar Pandurangan

  5. Tel-Hai College, 11016, Upper Galilee, Israel

    Rachel Amir

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  1. Hagai Cohen
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Correspondence to Rachel Amir.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Cohen, H., Pajak, A., Pandurangan, S. et al. Higher endogenous methionine in transgenic Arabidopsis seeds affects the composition of storage proteins and lipids. Amino Acids 48, 1413–1422 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-016-2193-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00726-016-2193-4

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