| Summary: | Vegetable oils are indispensable in human and animal diets and have been widely used for the production of detergents, lubricants, cosmetics, and biofuels. The seeds of an allotetraploid <i>Perilla frutescens</i> contain approximately 35 to 40% oils with high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). WRINKELD1 (WRI1) encoding an AP2/ERF-type transcription factor is known to upregulate the expression of genes involved in glycolysis and fatty acid biosynthesis and TAG assembly. In this study, two <i>WRI1</i> isoforms, <i>PfWRI1A,</i> and <i>PfWRI1B</i> were isolated from Perilla and predominantly expressed in developing Perilla seeds. The fluorescent signals from <i>PfWRI1A:eYFP</i> and <i>PfWRI1B:eYFP</i> driven by the CaMV 35S promoter were detected in the nucleus of the <i>Nicotiana benthamiana</i> leaf epidermis. Ectopic expression of each of <i>PfWRI1A</i> and <i>PfWRI1B</i> increased the levels of TAG by approximately 2.9- and 2.7-fold in <i>N. benthamiana</i> leaves and particularly, the enhanced levels (mol%) of C18:2, and C18:3 in the TAGs were prominent with the concomitant reduction in the amounts of saturated fatty acids. The expression levels of <i>NbPl-PKβ1</i>, <i>NbKAS1</i>, and <i>NbFATA</i>, which were known to be target genes of <i>WRI1,</i> significantly increased in tobacco leaves overexpressing <i>PfWRI1A</i> or <i>PfWRI1B</i>. Therefore, newly characterized <i>PfWRI1A</i> and <i>PfWRI1B</i> can be potentially useful for the enhanced accumulation of storage oils with increased PUFAs in oilseed crops.
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