An ancestral role for 3-KETOACYL-COA SYNTHASE3 as a negative regulator of plant cuticular wax synthesis

Haodong Huang, Xianpeng Yang, Minglü Zheng, Zexi Chen, Zhuo Yang, Pan Wu, Matthew A. Jenks, Guangchao Wang, Tao Feng, Li Liu, Pingfang Yang, Shiyou Lü, Huayan Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

The plant cuticle, a structure primarily composed of wax and cutin, forms a continuous coating over most aerial plant surfaces. The cuticle plays important roles in plant tolerance to environmental stress, including stress imposed by drought. Some members of the 3-KETOACYL-COA SYNTHASE (KCS) family are known to act as metabolic enzymes involved in cuticular wax production. Here we report that Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) KCS3, which was previously shown to lack canonical catalytic activity, instead functions as a negative regulator of wax metabolism by reducing the enzymatic activity of KCS6, a key KCS involved in wax production. We demonstrate that the role of KCS3 in regulating KCS6 activity involves physical interactions between specific subunits of the fatty acid elongation complex and is essential for maintaining wax homeostasis. We also show that the role of the KCS3–KCS6 module in regulating wax synthesis is highly conserved across diverse plant taxa from Arabidopsis to the moss Physcomitrium patens, pointing to a critical ancient and basal function of this module in finely regulating wax synthesis.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)2251-2270
Number of pages20
JournalPlant Cell
Volume35
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2023
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Plant Science

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