Jasmonate enhances cold acclimation in jojoba by promoting flavonol synthesis

Abstract

Jojoba is an industrial oil crop planted in tropical arid areas, and its low-temperature sensitivity prevents its introduction into temperate areas. Studying the molecular mechanisms associated with cold acclimation in jojoba is advantageous for developing breeds with enhanced cold tolerance. In this study, metabolomic analysis revealed that various flavonols accumulate in jojoba during cold acclimation. Time-course transcriptomic analysis and weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA) demonstrated that flavonol biosynthesis and jasmonates (JAs) signaling pathways played crucial roles in cold acclimation. Combining the biochemical and genetic analyses showed that ScMYB12 directly activated flavonol synthase gene (ScFLS). The interaction between ScMYB12 and transparent testa 8 (ScTT8) promoted the expression of ScFLS, but the negative regulator ScJAZ13 in the JA signaling pathway interacted with ScTT8 to attenuate the transcriptional activity of the ScTT8 and ScMYB12 complex, leading to the downregulation of ScFLS. Cold acclimation stimulated the production of JA in jojoba leaves, promoted the degradation of ScJAZ13, and activated the transcriptional activity of ScTT8 and ScMYB12 complexes, leading to the accumulation of flavonols. Our findings reveal the molecular mechanism of JA-mediated flavonol biosynthesis during cold acclimation in jojoba and highlight the JA pathway as a promising means for enhancing cold tolerance in breeding efforts.

Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant numbers 31770363 and 31670335), and Beijing Advanced Discipline for Mass Spectrometry Imaging and Metabolomics (No. 104-01900403).

Author contributions

F.G., Y.Z., and G.Z. conceived and designed the experiments. L.Z. and B.L performed experiments and analysed the data.

Data availability

All raw RNA-seq data were deposited in GeneBank with the accession number PRJNA778341.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Supplementary data

Supplementary data is available at Horticulture Research online.

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