Seed-specific overexpression of AtFAX1 increases seed oil content in Arabidopsis

Highlights: • Seed-specific overexpression of AtFAX1 increased seed oil and protein content in Arabidopsis. • Fatty acid and triacylglycerol biosynthesis activity were enhanced in AtFAX1 transgenic plants. • Genes involved in seed sugar importation were induced in AtFAX1 transgenic plants. • Seed-specific overexpression of AtFAX1 increased seed mass and seed size. Biosynthesis of plant seed oil is accomplished through the coordinate action of multiple enzymes in multiple subcellular compartments. Fatty acid (FA) has to be transported from plastid to endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for TAG synthesis. However, the role of plastid FA transportation during seed oil accumulation has not been evaluated. AtFAX1 (Arabidopsis fatty acid export1) mediated the FA export from plastid. In this study, we overexpressed AtFAX1 under the control of a seed specific promoter in Arabidopsis. The resultant overexpression lines (OEs) produced seeds which contained 21–33% more oil and 24–30% more protein per seed than those of the wild type (WT). The increased oil content was probably because of the enhanced FA and TAG synthetic activity. The seed size and weight were both increased accordingly. In addition, the seed number per silique and silique number per plant had no changes in transgenic plants. Taken together, our results demonstrated that seed specific overexpression of AtFAX1 could promote oil accumulation in Arabidopsis seeds and manipulating FA transportation is a feasible strategy for increasing the seed oil content.