Buckwheat UDP‐Glycosyltransferase <i>FtUGT71K6</i> and <i>FtUGT71K7</i> Tandem Repeats Contribute to Drought Tolerance by Regulating Epicatechin Synthesis

Gao, Yuanfen;Shi, Yaliang;Jahan, Tanzim;Huda, Md. Nurul;Zhou, Meiliang;et.al.
(2025) Plant, Cell and Environment — p. 17 (2025)

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Authors
  • Gao, YuanfenCollege of Life Sciences, Sichuan Agricultural University, Ya'an, Sichuan, China
    Author
  • Shi, Yaliang2 National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement/ Key laboratory Grain Crop Genetic Resources Evaluation and Utlization Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, Haidian District, China
    Author
  • Jahan, Tanzim2 National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement/ Key laboratory Grain Crop Genetic Resources Evaluation and Utlization Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, Haidian District, China
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  • Huda, Md. Nurulorcid-logo2 National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement/ Key laboratory Grain Crop Genetic Resources Evaluation and Utlization Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, Haidian District, China
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  • Quinet, Murielorcid-logoUCLouvain
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  • Zhou, Meiliangorcid-logo2 National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement/ Key laboratory Grain Crop Genetic Resources Evaluation and Utlization Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, Haidian District, China
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Abstract
Glycosyltransferase genes are organised as tandem repeats in the buckwheat genome, yet the functional implications and evolutionary significance of duplicated genes remain largely unexplored. In this study, gene family analysis revealed that FtUGT71K6 and FtUGT71K7 are tandem repeats in the buckwheat genome. Moreover, GWAS results for epicatechin suggested that this tandem repeat function was associated with epicatechin content of Tartary buckwheat germplasm, highlighting variations in the promoter haplotypes of FtUGT71K7 influenced epicatechin levels. FtUGT71K6 and FtUGT71K7 were shown to catalyse UDP‐glucose conjugation to cyanidin and epicatechin. Furthermore, overexpression of FtUGT71K6 and FtUGT71K7 increased total antioxidant capacity and altered metabolite content of the epicatechin biosynthesis pathway, contributing to improved drought tolerance, while overexpression of FtUGT71K6 significantly improved salt stress tolerance. However, overexpression of these two genes did not contribute to resistance against Rhizoctonia solani. Evolutionary selection pressure analysis suggested positive selection of a critical amino acid ASP‐53 in FtUGT71K6 and FtUGT71K7 during the duplication event. Overall, our study indicated that FtUGT71K6 and FtUGT71K7 play crucial roles in drought stress tolerance via modulating epicatechin synthesis in buckwheat.
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Gao, Y., Shi, Y., Jahan, T., Huda, Md. N., Hao, L., He, Y., Quinet, M., Chen, H., Zhang, K., & Zhou, M. (2025). Buckwheat UDP‐Glycosyltransferase <i>FtUGT71K6</i> and <i>FtUGT71K7</i> Tandem Repeats Contribute to Drought Tolerance by Regulating Epicatechin Synthesis. Plant, Cell and Environment, 17. https://doi.org/10.1111/pce.15412 (Original work published 2025)