The transcription factor PHR1 regulates lipid remodeling and triacylglycerol accumulation in Arabidopsis thaliana during phosphorus starvation

Lipid remodeling is one of the most dramatic metabolic responses to phosphorus (P) starvation. It consists of the degradation of phospholipids to release the phosphate needed by the cell and the accumulation of glycolipids to replace phospholipids in the membranes. It is shown that PHR1, a well-described transcriptional regulator of P starvation of the MYB family, largely controls this response. Glycerolipid composition and the expression of most lipid-remodeling gene transcripts analysed were altered in the phr1 mutant under phosphate starvation in comparison to wild-type plants. In addition to these results, the lipidomic characterization of wild-type plants showed two novel features of the lipid response to P starvation for Arabidopsis. Triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulates dramatically under P starvation (by as much as ~20-fold in shoots and ~13-fold in roots), a response known to occur in green algae but hardly known in plants. Surprisingly, there was an increase in phosphatidylglycerol (PG) in P-starved roots, a response that may be adaptive as it was suppressed in the phr1 mutant.