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Updated: Nov 2, 2025

Investigating Interactions Between Histone Modifying Enzymes and Transcription Factors in vivo by Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Published on: October 14, 2022
The methyl jasmonate-responsive transcription factor DobHLH4 promotes DoTPS10, which is involved in linalool
Zhenming Yu1, Guihua Zhang2, Jaime A Teixeira da Silva3
1Key Laboratory of South China Agricultural Plant Molecular Analysis and Genetic Improvement & Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Applied Botany, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China; Center of Economic Botany, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China.
Abstract:
Linalool is an aromatic monoterpene produced in the Chinese medicinal plant Dendrobium officinale, but little information is available on the regulation of linalool biosynthesis. Here, a novel basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor, DobHLH4 from D. officinale, was identified and functionally characterized. The expression profile of DobHLH4 was positively correlated with that of DoTPS10 (R2 = 0.985, p < 0.01), which encodes linalool synthase that is responsible for linalool production, during floral development. DobHLH4 was highly expressed in petals, and was significantly induced by methyl jasmonate. Analysis of subcellular localization showed that DobHLH4 was located in the nucleus. Yeast one-hybrid and dual-luciferase assays indicated that DobHLH4 bound directly to the DoTPS10 promoter harboring the G-box element, and up-regulated DoTPS10 expression. A yeast two-hybrid screen confirmed that DobHLH4 physically interacted with DoJAZ1, suggesting that DobHLH4 might function in the jasmonic acid-mediated accumulation of linalool. Furthermore, transient overexpression of DobHLH4 in D. officinale petals significantly increased linalool production by triggering linalool biosynthetic pathway genes, especially DoTPS10. We suggest a hypothetical model that depicts how jasmonic acid signaling may regulate DoTPS10 by interacting with DobHLH4 and DoJAZ1. In doing so, the formation of linalool is controlled. Our results indicate that DobHLH4 is a positive regulator of linalool biosynthesis and may be a promising target for in vitro-based metabolic engineering to produce linalool.
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