Transcriptional profiling of canola developing embryo and identification of the important roles of BnDof5.6 in embryo development and fatty acids synthesis

Canola is an important vegetable oil crop globally, and the understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying fatty acids biosynthesis during seed embryo development is an important research goal. Here we report the transcriptional profiling analysis of developing canola embryos using RNAsequencing (RNA-Seq) method. RNA-Seq analysis generated 58,579,451 sequence reads aligned with 32,243 genes. It was found that a total of 55 differential expression genes (DEGs) encoding 28 enzymes function in carbon flow to fatty acids of storage TAG. Most of the DEGs encoding above enzymes showed similar expression pattern, indicating the DEGs are cooperatively involved in carbon flow into fatty acids. In addition, 41 DEGs associated with signal transductions, transport and metabolic processing of auxin, gibberellin, abscisic acid, cytokinin and salicylic acids were found in the RNA-Seq database, which indicates the important roles of the phytohormones in controlling embryo development and fatty acids synthesis. 122 DEGs encoding transcriptional factor family members were found in developing canola embryos. Furthermore, BnDOF5.6, a zinc finger transcriptional factor gene, found in RNA-Seq database was down-regulated in developing canola embryos. The transgenic plants displayed reduced embryo sizes, decreased fatty acids contents and altered seed fatty acids composition in canola. Downregulated of BnDof5.6 also changed the expression levels of genes involved in fatty acids synthesis and desaturation. Our results indicate that BnDof5.6 is required for embryo development and fatty acids synthesis in canola. Overall this study presents new information on the global expression patterns of genes during embryo development and will expand our understanding of the complex molecular mechanism of carbon flow into fatty acids and embryo development in canola.