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MdBT2 regulates nitrogen-mediated cuticular wax biosynthesis via a MdMYB106-MdCER2L1 signalling pathway in apple

Nature Plants volume 10, pages 131–144 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Cuticular waxes play important roles in plant development and the interaction between plants and their environment. Researches on wax biosynthetic pathways have been reported in several plant species. Also, wax formation is closely related to environmental condition. However, the regulatory mechanism between wax and environmental factors, especially essential mineral elements, is less studied. Here we found that nitrogen (N) played a negative role in the regulation of wax synthesis in apple. We therefore analysed wax content, composition and crystals in BTB-TAZ domain protein 2 (MdBT2) overexpressing and antisense transgenic apple seedlings and found that MdBT2 could downregulate wax biosynthesis. Furthermore, R2R3-MYB transcription factor 16-like protein (MdMYB106) interacted with MdBT2, and MdBT2 mediated its ubiquitination and degradation through the 26S proteasome pathway. Finally, HXXXD-type acyl-transferase ECERIFERUM 2-like1 (MdCER2L1) was confirmed as a downstream target gene of MdMYB106. Our findings reveal an N-mediated apple wax biosynthesis pathway and lay a foundation for further study of the environmental factors associated with wax regulatory networks in apple.

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Fig. 1: N negatively regulated wax accumulation in apple.
Fig. 2: MdBT2 negatively affects wax biosynthesis by interacting with MdMYB106 in vitro and in vivo.
Fig. 3: MdBT2 affected wax accumulation by regulating MdMYB106.
Fig. 4: MdBT2 mediated the ubiquitination and degradation of MdMYB106 via the 26S proteasome pathway.
Fig. 5: MdBT2 regulated MdMYB106-mediated transcription of MdCER2 and MdCER2L1.
Fig. 6: The potential working model of MdCER2 and MdCER2L1.
Fig. 7: Proposed model of N-mediated wax biosynthesis in apple.

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Data availability

The authors confirm that all experimental data are available and accessible via the main text and/or the supplemental data. The accession codes are listed as follows: MdBT2: MD06G1161300; MdMYB106: MD09G1054000; MdCER2: MD15G1386800; MdCER2L1: MD15G1386300; AtCER2: AT4G24510; MdCER6: MD13G1042400. Additional data related to this study are available from the corresponding author upon request. All biological materials used in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province Outstanding Youth Fund Project (ZR2022JQ14), National Excellent Young Talents Support Program, National Natural Science Foundation of China (32072539), Taishan Scholar Youth Expert Project and Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province Youth Fund Project (ZR2022QC112).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Han Jiang, Chen-Hui Qi, Huai-Na Gao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Research Center for Apple Engineering and Technology, Shandong Collaborative Innovation Center of Fruit and Vegetable Quality and Efficient Production, College of Horticulture Science and Engineering, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai’an, China

    Han Jiang, Chen-Hui Qi, Huai-Na Gao, Zi-Quan Feng, Ya-Ting Wu, Xin-Xiang Xu, Jian-Ying Cui, Xiao-Fei Wang, Yan-Hui Lv, Yuan-Mao Jiang, Chun-Xiang You & Yuan-Yuan Li

  2. Yantai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Yantai, China

    Xin-Xiang Xu

  3. Shandong Agricultural Technology Extension Center, Jinan, China

    Wen-Sheng Gao

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Contributions

Y.-Y.L., H.J. and C.-H.Q. planned and designed the research. H.J., C.-H.Q., H.-N.G., Z.-Q.F., Y.-T.W., X.-X.X., J.-Y.C., X.-F.W., Y.-H.L., W.-S.G., Y.-M.J. and C.-X.Y. performed experiments, conducted fieldwork, analysed data and so on. H.J., H.-N.G. and Y.-Y.L. wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Yuan-Yuan Li.

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Nature Plants thanks Cheng Chang, Yunjiang Cheng and Fabrizio Costa for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Jiang, H., Qi, CH., Gao, HN. et al. MdBT2 regulates nitrogen-mediated cuticular wax biosynthesis via a MdMYB106-MdCER2L1 signalling pathway in apple. Nat. Plants 10, 131–144 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-023-01587-7

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