Regulation of seed oil accumulation by lncRNAs in Brassica napus

Background: Studies have indicated that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play important regulatory roles in many biological processes. However, the regulation of seed oil biosynthesis by lncRNAs remains largely unknown.

Results: We comprehensively identified and characterized the lncRNAs from seeds in three developing stages in two accessions of Brassica napus (B. napus), ZS11 (high oil content) and WH5557 (low oil content). Finally, 8094 expressed lncRNAs were identified. LncRNAs MSTRG.22563 and MSTRG.86004 were predicted to be related to seed oil accumulation. Experimental results show that the seed oil content is decreased by 3.1-3.9% in MSTRG.22563 overexpression plants, while increased about 2% in MSTRG.86004, compared to WT. Further study showed that most genes related to lipid metabolism had much lower expression, and the content of some metabolites in the processes of respiration and TCA (tricarboxylic acid) cycle was reduced in MSTRG.22563 transgenic seeds. The expression of genes involved in fatty acid synthesis and seed embryonic development (e.g., LEC1) was increased, but genes related to TAG assembly was decreased in MSTRG.86004 transgenic seeds.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that MSTRG.22563 might impact seed oil content by affecting the respiration and TCA cycle, while MSTRG.86004 plays a role in prolonging the seed developmental time to increase seed oil accumulation.