http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5813-6707
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ABSTRACT
γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is an important neurotransmitter in mammals whose receptor is reported to be regulated by flavonoids. In plants, it is considered to be at the intersection of carbon and nitrogen metabolism, but its relationship with flavonoid metabolism remains unclear. Our recent RNA-seq analysis showed that expression of flavonoid biosynthetic genes was influenced in poplar by the blockage of α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase (α-KGDH) activity and the application of GABA under NaCl stress, accompanied by the changes in GABA shunt activity. Here, we further found that the flavonoid accumulation was significantly affected by blocking the activities of α-KGDH and GABA transaminase as well as applying exogenous GABA, coupled with the changes of endogenous GABA contents. Key genes involved in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway were also significantly influenced, including two PALs, 4CL, and two CHSs. Our results suggest that the GABA shunt is closely associated with the metabolism of flavonoids, which would benefit future understanding of GABA’s roles in carbon allocation by regulating the pathway of flavonoid biosynthesis under normal or stress conditions.
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
Acknowledgments
We thank Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Non-profit Research Institution of CAF (CAFYBB2016SY002; CAFYBB2014ZX001-3), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31100490), Fund Project of Science and Technology Activities for Overseas Students of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Sciences Security of the People’s Republic of China (2016). We also thank Sarah Williams, PhD, from Liwen Bianji, Edanz Group China, for editing the English text of a draft of this manuscript.