Mutational Analysis of a Wheat <i>O</i>-methyltransferase Involved in Flavonoid Metabolism

oleh: Alexander B. Cain, Shu Yu, Li Tian

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2022-01-01

Deskripsi

Methylated flavones, and tricin in particular, have been implicated in protecting wheat plants against a variety of biotic and abiotic stresses. Methylated flavones are produced via <i>O</i>-methylation of the hydroxyl groups in flavones, which is catalyzed by <i>O</i>-methyltransferases (OMTs). To examine the role of wheat OMT2 in methylated flavone biosynthesis and facilitate interrogation of tricin functions in wheat-environment interactions, loss-of-function mutants of <i>OMT2</i> homoeologs, <i>omt-A2</i> and <i>omt-B2</i>, were identified from a tetraploid wheat Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes (TILLING) mutant population and crossed to generate the <i>omt-A2</i><i>omt-B2</i> double mutant. Although tricin and most other soluble phenolics did not differ in leaves and glumes of TILLING control and the <i>omt-A2</i>, <i>omt-B2</i>, and <i>omt-A2 omt-B2</i> mutants, chlorogenic acid was increased in glumes of <i>omt-A2 omt-B2</i> relative to TILLING control, suggesting that it might serve as a substrate for OMT2. The <i>omt2</i> mutant lines showed similar growth phenotypes as well as comparable lignin deposition in cell walls of stems compared to TILLING control. These results collectively suggest that OMT2 and its close homolog OMT1 may possess overlapping activities in tricin production, with OMT1 compensating for the missing OMT2 activities in the <i>omt2</i> mutant lines.