A role for the plastidial GPT2 translocator in the modulation of lignin biosynthesis

GPT2 overexpression in A. thaliana reduced stem lignin content and guaiacyl and syringyl monolignol pools. Transcriptomic and metabolomic analyses revealed a regulatory link between GPT2 and HCT that influences flux between lignin, UV protectants and primary metabolism. Overall design: To invesigate the relationship between GPT2 expression and lignin biosynthesis, we examined transciptomic changes in HCT-RNAi (knockdown of HCT through silencing), gpt2-1 (mutant),35S GPT2 (overexpression) lines and compared them to wild type Col-0 lines. The model organism was A.thaliana. We then performed RNA-seq analysis on three biological replicates of stem tissue from each genotype. Differential seq analysis was performed using the RNA-seq data for comparison between wild type vs mutant (HCT-RNAi, gpt2-1) and wild type vs overexpression lines (35S GPT2)