Regulatory role of the safflowper seed oil biosynthetic pathway in the context of bioinformatics

Abstract

The study focused on the regulatory role of Carthamus tinctorius Dof in the safflower seed oil biosynthetic pathway. Through bioinformatics analysis, yeast expression system validation, and transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana experiments, it was found that the expression of the safflower family of transcription factors was significantly increased at 25 post-flowering days of safflower seed development, which coincided with the peak of fatty acid accumulation. Stearic acid content was reduced by 20.33% and oleic acid content was increased by 27.54% in transgenic yeast, and C20:0 and C22:0 long-chain saturated fatty acids were detected. Arabidopsis thaliana seeds overexpressing the safflower Dof transcription factor gene had significantly higher fatty acid composition than the wild type, while mutant seeds had lower fatty acid composition than the wild type. GC–MS analysis indicated that the safflower Dof transcription factor gene variant had limited effect on the overall composition of fatty acids. The results provide molecular targets for improving the quality of safflower seed oil and help to reveal the mechanism of Carthamus tinctorius Dof in the regulation of lipid biosynthesis, which is of great significance for improving the lipid content and composition of oilseed crops.

Keywords

Biosynthetic pathway / Gene regulation / CtDof2 / Transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana / GC–MS analysis