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Transcriptional Regulators to Modify Secondary Metabolism

  • Chapter
Metabolic Engineering of Plant Secondary Metabolism

Abstract

Prospects to modify alkaloid production via genetic engineering of a single or a few enzymatic steps have been reviewed previously.1 The aim of this contribution is to discuss opportunities to modify secondary metabolism using transcriptional regulators. Transcription factors are proteins that regulate gene expression by binding to specific sequences in the upstream region or promoter of a gene and by stimulating the activity of the RNA polymerase II-containing transcription complex. Single transcription factors can regulate complex pathways involving numerous target genes. A notable example is muscle differentiation in animals, where either one of a set of myogenic bHLH transcription factors (MyoD, myogenin, Myf5, MRF4) in combination with the MADS-domain transcription factor MEF2 induce muscle cell differentiation and switch on numerous muscle-specific genes.2 Other examples include single homeodomain transcription factors in the fruit fly, that regulate complex pathways resulting in the determination of segment identity.3,4 In Arabidopsis thaliana, overexpression of the transcription factor CBF1 resulted in coordinate upregulation of a set of cold-regulated genes, and in increased freezing tolerance.5 These examples illustrate that single transcription factors can act as master regulators of complex developmental pathways, and can control the expression of a large number of target genes in a coordinate fashion. A general characteristic of secondary metabolic pathways is that the expression of the structural genes is coordinately regulated depending on cell type or in response to environmental stimuli. This coordinate control is most likely due to master regulators, and one can envisage that secondary metabolism can be modified by engineering the activity of such master switches. The following sections will briefly review the transcriptional regulation of the well-studied phenylpropanoid pathway and its flavonoid branch, and the less well-studied terpenoid indole alkaloid biosynthetic pathway. In the conclusions, perspectives for practical applications of transcription factors in engineering secondary metabolism will be discussed.

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Authors
  1. J. Memelink
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  2. F. L. H. Menke
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  3. L. Van Der Fits
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  4. J. W. Kijne
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pharmacognosy, Leiden/Amstredam Center for Drug Research, Einsteinweg 55, P.O. Box 9502, 2300 RA, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Robert Verpoorte

  2. Institut für Entwicklungs- und Molekularbiologie der Pflanzen, Heinrich-Heine-Universität, Düsseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1, Geb. 26.13, 40225, Düsseldorf, Germany

    A. W. Alfermann

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Memelink, J., Menke, F.L.H., Van Der Fits, L., Kijne, J.W. (2000). Transcriptional Regulators to Modify Secondary Metabolism. In: Verpoorte, R., Alfermann, A.W. (eds) Metabolic Engineering of Plant Secondary Metabolism. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9423-3_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9423-3_6

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