An engineered lipid remodeling system using a galactolipid synthase promoter during phosphate starvation enhances oil accumulation in plants

Inorganic phosphate (Pi) depletion is a serious problem for plant growth. Membrane lipid remodeling is a defense mechanism that plants use to survive Pi-depleted conditions. During Pi starvation, phospholipids are degraded to supply Pi for other essential biological processes, whereas galactolipid synthesis in plastids is up-regulated via the transcriptional activation of monogalactosyldiacylglycerol synthase 3 (MGD3). Thus, the produced galactolipids are transferred to extraplastidial membranes to substitute for phospholipids. We found that, Pi starvation induced oil accumulation in the vegetative tissues of various seed plants without activating the transcription of enzymes involved in the later steps of triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis. Moreover, the Arabidopsis starchless phosphoglucomutase mutant, pgm-1, accumulated higher TAG levels than did wild-type plants under Pi-depleted conditions. We generated transgenic plants that expressed a key gene involved in TAG synthesis using the Pi deficiency–responsive MGD3 promoter in wild-type and pgm-1 backgrounds. During Pi starvation, the transgenic plants accumulated higher TAG amounts compared with the non-transgenic plants, suggesting that the Pi deficiency–responsive promoter of galactolipid synthase in plastids may be useful for producing transgenic plants that accumulate more oil under Pi-depleted conditions.