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Metabolic engineering of potato tuber carotenoids through tuber-specific silencing of lycopene epsilon cyclase

TitoloMetabolic engineering of potato tuber carotenoids through tuber-specific silencing of lycopene epsilon cyclase
Tipo di pubblicazioneArticolo su Rivista peer-reviewed
Anno di Pubblicazione2006
AutoriDiretto, Gianfranco, Tavazza Raffaela, Welsch R., Pizzichini Daniele, Mourgues F., Papacchioli V., Beyer P., and Giuliano Giovanni
RivistaBMC Plant Biology
Volume6
ISSN14712229
Parole chiaveAgrobacterium, beta carotene, biosynthesis, Carotenoid, Carotenoids, Chromatography, enzymology, gene expression regulation, gene silencing, Genetic engineering, Genetically Modified, genetics, high performance liquid chromatography, High Pressure Liquid, Intramolecular Lyases, isomerase, Lutein, lycopene cyclase-isomerase, metabolism, Plant, plant leaf, Plant leaves, plant tuber, Plant Tubers, Plants, plasmid, Plasmids, potato, procedures, Rhizobium, Solanum tuberosum, transgenic plant, xanthophyll
Abstract

Background: Potato is a major staple food, and modification of its provitamin content is a possible means for alleviating nutritional deficiencies. beta-carotene is the main dietary precursor of vitamin A. Potato tubers contain low levels of carotenoids, composed mainly of the xanthophylls lutein, antheraxanthin, violaxanthin, and of xanthophyll esters. None of these carotenoids have provitamin A activity. Results: We silenced the first dedicated step in the beta-epsilon- branch of carotenoid biosynthesis, lycopene epsilon cyclase (LCY-e), by introducing, via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, an antisense fragment of this gene under the control of the patatin promoter. Real Time measurements confirmed the tuber-specific silencing of Lcy-e. Antisense tubers showed significant increases in beta-beta-carotenoid levels, with beta-carotene showing the maximum increase (up to 14-fold). Total carotenoids increased up to 2.5-fold. These changes were not accompanied by a decrease in lutein, suggesting that LCY-e is not rate-limiting for lutein accumulation. Tuber-specific changes in expression of several genes in the pathway were observed. Conclusion: The data suggest that epsilon-cyclization of lycopene is a key regulatory step in potato tuber carotenogenesis. Upon tuber-specific silencing of the corresponding gene, beta-beta-carotenoid and total carotenoid levels are increased, and expression of several other genes in the pathway is modified. © 2006 Diretto et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-33748956342&doi=10.1186%2f1471-2229-6-13&partnerID=40&md5=65996576d6236828487a6e2627a60c9e
DOI10.1186/1471-2229-6-13
Citation KeyDiretto2006