Transcriptome reveals the role of ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 in the regulation of glucosinolate metabolism in broccoli

To investigate role of ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) in the regulation of glucosinolate (GSL) metabolism, we conducted RNA-seq on BoHY5 overexpression line B42OE, knockout line B42CR, wild-type B42WT. BoHY5 plays a negative regulatory role in the transcription of MYB transcription factors (TFs) and GSL pathway genes. Furthermore, BoHY5 overexpression reduces the content of aliphatic GSLs (especially glucoraphanin), but increases the content of indolic GSLs (especially glucobrassicin). Knocking out BoHY5 can increase the content of aliphatic and aromatic GSLs and raise the total GSL content, but it can decrease the content of indolic GSLs. These results suggest that BoHY5 is a key regulatory factor in balancing the metabolic levels between aliphatic and indolic GSLs, which provides a theoretical basis for efficient biosynthesis of GSL in broccoli.