biologia plantarum

International journal on Plant Life established by Bohumil Němec in 1959

Biologia plantarum 55:453-460, 2011 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-011-0110-y

Engineering tocopherol biosynthetic pathway in lettuce

Y. Li1,2, G. Wang3, R. Hou1, Y. Zhou1, R. Gong3, X. Sun1,*, K. Tang1,3,*
1 State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, School of Life Sciences, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center, Fudan University, Shanghai, P.R. China
2 Shanghai Information Center for Life Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, P.R. China
3 Plant Biotechnology Research Center, School of Agriculture and Biology, Fudan-SJTU-Nottingham Plant Biotechnology R&D Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, P.R. China

In order to increase tocopherol content, genes encoding Arabidopsis homogentisate phytyltransferase (HPT) and γ-tocopherol methyltransferase (γ-TMT) were constitutively over-expressed in lettuce (Lactuca sativa L. var. logifolia), alone or in combination. Over-expression of hpt could increase total tocopherol content, while over-expression of γ-tmt could shift tocopherol composition in favor of α-tocopherol. Transgenic lettuce lines expressing both hpt and γ-tmt produced significantly higher amount of tocopherol and elevated α-/γ-tocopherol ratio compared with non-transgenic control and transgenic lines harboring a single gene (hpt or γ-tmt). The best line produced eight times more tocopherol than the non-transgenic control and more than twice than hpt single-gene transgenic line.

Keywords: homogentisate phytyltransferase; Lactuca sativa; γ-tocopherol methyltransferase; transformation; vitamin E.

Received: December 21, 2009; Accepted: May 11, 2010; Published: September 1, 2011  Show citation

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Li, Y., Wang, G., Hou, R., Zhou, Y., Gong, R., Sun, X., & Tang, K. (2011). Engineering tocopherol biosynthetic pathway in lettuce. Biologia plantarum, 55(3), 453-460. doi: 10.1007/s10535-011-0110-y
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