Flavonoids are widely distributed secondary metabolites with different metabolic functions in plants. The elucidation of the biosynthetic pathways, as well as their regulation by MYB, bHLH and WD40-type transcription factors, has allowed metabolic engineering of plants through the manipulation of the different final products with valuable applications. The present review describes the regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis, as well as the biological functions of flavonoids in plants, such as in defense against UV-B radiation and pathogen infection, nodulation, pollen fertility. In addition, we discuss different strategies and achievements through the genetic engineering of flavonoid biosynthesis with implication in the industry and the combinatorial biosynthesis in microorganisms by the reconstruction of the pathway to obtain high amounts of specific compounds.

Phosphorylating glyceraldehyde-3-P dehydrogenase (GAPC-1) is a highly conserved cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of glyceraldehyde-3-P to 1,3-bis-phosphoglycerate; besides its participation in glycolysis, it is thought to be involved in additional cellular functions. To reach an integrative view on the many roles played by this enzyme, we characterized a homozygous gapc-1 null mutant and an as-GAPC1 line of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). Both mutant plant lines show a delay in growth, morphological alterations in siliques, and low seed number. Embryo development was altered, showing abortions and empty embryonic sacs in basal and apical siliques, respectively. The gapc-1 line shows a decrease in ATP levels and reduced respiratory rate. Furthermore, both lines exhibit a decrease in the expression and activity of aconitase and succinate dehydrogenase and reduced levels of pyruvate and several Krebs cycle intermediates, as well as increased reactive oxygen species levels. Transcriptome analysis of the gapc-1 mutants unveils a differential accumulation of transcripts encoding for enzymes involved in carbon partitioning. According to these studies, some enzymes involved in carbon flux decreased (phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, NAD-malic enzyme, glucose-6-P dehydrogenase) or increased (NAD-malate dehydrogenase) their activities compared to the wild-type line. Taken together, our data indicate that a deficiency in the cytosolic GAPC activity results in modifications of carbon flux and mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to an alteration of plant and embryo development with decreased number of seeds, indicating that GAPC-1 is essential for normal fertility in Arabidopsis plants.

Summary: Pattern recognition receptors (PRR) and nucleotide‐binding leucine‐rich repeat proteins (NLR) are major components of the plant immune system responsible for pathogen detection. To date, the transcriptional regulation of PRR/NLR genes is poorly understood. Some PRR/NLR genes are affected by epigenetic changes of neighboring transposable elements (TEs) (cis regulation). We analyzed whether these genes can also respond to changes in the epigenetic marks of distal pericentromeric TEs (trans regulation). We found that Arabidopsis tissues infected with Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) initially induced the expression of pericentromeric TEs, and then repressed it by RNA‐directed DNA methylation (RdDM). The latter response was accompanied by the accumulation of small RNAs (sRNAs) mapping to the TEs. Curiously these sRNAs also mapped to distal PRR/NLR genes, which were controlled by RdDM but remained induced in the infected tissues. Then, we used non‐infected mom1 (Morpheus’ molecule 1) mutants that expressed pericentromeric TEs to test if they lose repression of PRR/NLR genes. mom1 plants activated several PRR/NLR genes that were unlinked to MOM1‐targeted TEs, and showed enhanced resistance to Pst. Remarkably, the increased defenses of mom1 were abolished when MOM1/RdDM‐mediated pericentromeric TEs silencing was re‐established. Therefore, common sRNAs could control PRR/NLR genes and distal pericentromeric TEs and preferentially silence TEs when they are activated.

We characterized the transcriptomic response of transgenic plants carrying a mitochondrial dysfunction induced by the expression of the unedited form of the ATP synthase subunit 9. The u-ATP9 transgene driven by A9 and APETALA3 promoters induce mitochondrial dysfunction revealed by a decrease in both oxygen uptake and adenine nucleotides (ATP, ADP) levels without changes in the ATP/ADP ratio. Furthermore, we measured an increase in ROS accumulation and a decrease in glutathione and ascorbate levels with a concomitant oxidative stress response. The transcriptome analysis of young Arabidopsis flowers, validated by qRT–PCR and enzymatic or functional tests, showed dramatic changes in u-ATP9 plants. Both lines display a modification in the expression of various genes involved in carbon, lipid, and cell wall metabolism, suggesting that an important metabolic readjustment occurs in plants with a mitochondrial dysfunction. Interestingly, transcript levels involved in mitochondrial respiration, protein synthesis, and degradation are affected. Moreover, the levels of several mRNAs encoding for transcription factors and DNA binding proteins were also changed. Some of them are involved in stress and hormone responses, suggesting that several signaling pathways overlap. Indeed, the transcriptome data revealed that the mitochondrial dysfunction dramatically alters the expression of genes involved in signaling pathways, including those related to ethylene, absicic acid, and auxin signal transduction. Our data suggest that the mitochondrial dysfunction model used in this report may be useful to uncover the retrograde signaling mechanism between the nucleus and mitochondria in plant cells.