BESC – Loss of Function Alleles of PtEPSP-TF and its Regulatory Targets in Rice

BESC-35 and BESC-876 are two loss of function alleles of PtEPSP-TF. The loss of the DNA binding activity and transcriptional activity of the two alleles are due to amino acid substitution at position 142 and 364. This discovery provides one strategy to modulate the activity of PtEPSP-TF without introducing exogenous genes in Populus plants. In monocot plant rice, overexpression of PtEPSP-TF can enhance the expression of cell wall biosynthesis genes and MYB46, which is similar to the phenotype in dicot plant Populus. This will broad the utility of PtEPSP-TF on enhancing biofuel production, flavonoids production, carbon fiber production, and nutritional values of monocot plants, especially food crops. Besides MYB46, the expression of four rice transcription factors controlling cell wall biosynthesis can be regulated by PtEPSP-TF. This will extend the engineering targets to prevent cell wall recalcitrance and promote efficient biofuel production from biomass.

---

---