Affiliation:
1. Tropical Crops Genetic Resources Institute & National Key Laboratory for Tropical Crop Breeding Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences Haikou 571101 China
2. College of Tropical Crops & College of Forestry Hainan University Haikou 570228 China
3. Alliance of Bioversity International and International Center for Tropical Agriculture Cali 763537 Colombia
Abstract
SUMMARYStylo (Stylosanthes guianensis) is a tropical legume known for its exceptional tolerance to low phosphate (Pi), a trait believed to be linked to its high acid phosphatase (APase) activity. Previous studies have observed genotypic variations in APase activity in stylo; however, the gene encoding the crucial APase responsible for this variation remains unidentified. In this study, transcriptomic and proteomic analyses were employed to identify eight Pi starvation‐inducible (PSI) APases belonging to the purple APase (PAP) family in the roots of stylo and seven in the leaves. Among these PSI‐PAPs, SgPAP7 exhibited a significantly positive correlation in its expression levels with the activities of both internal APase and root‐associated APase across 20 stylo genotypes under low‐Pi conditions. Furthermore, the recombinant SgPAP7 displayed high catalytic activity toward adenosine 5′‐diphosphate (ADP) and phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) in vitro. Overexpression (OE) of SgPAP7 in Arabidopsis facilitated exogenous organic phosphorus utilization. Moreover, SgPAP7 OE lines showed lower shoot ADP and PEP levels than the wild type, implying that SgPAP7 is involved in the catabolism and recycling of endogenous ADP and PEP, which could be beneficial for plant growth in low‐Pi soils. In conclusion, SgPAP7 is a key gene with a major role in stylo adaptation to low‐Pi conditions by facilitating the utilization of both exogenous and endogenous organic phosphorus sources. It may also function as a PEP phosphatase involved in a glycolytic bypass pathway that minimizes the need for adenylates and Pi. Thus, SgPAP7 could be a promising target for improving tolerance of crops to low‐Pi availability.
Funder
Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basal Research Fund for Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Natural Science Foundation of Hainan Province
Subject
Cell Biology,Plant Science,Genetics