biologia plantarum

International journal on Plant Life established by Bohumil Němec in 1959

Biologia plantarum 56:451-457, 2012 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-012-0119-x

Engineering ascorbic acid biosynthetic pathway in Arabidopsis leaves by single and double gene transformation

Y. Zhou1, Q. C. Tao1, Z. N. Wang1, R. Fan1, Y. Li1, X. F. Sun1, K. X. Tang2,*
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 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

Six genes, which encode enzymes involved in ascorbic acid (AsA) biosynthesis, including guanosine diphosphate (GDP)-mannose pyrophosphorylase (GMP), GDP-mannose-3',5'-epimerase (GME), GDP-galactose guanylyltransferase (GGT), L-galactose-1-phosphate phosphatase (GPP), L-galactose dehydrogenase (GDH) and L-galactono-1,4-lactone dehydrogenase (GLDH) were transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana, to evaluate the contribution of each gene to AsA accumulation. Additionally, two combinations, GGT-GPP and GGT-GLDH, were co-transformed into Arabidopsis with a reliable double-gene transformation system. AsA content of GGT transgenic lines was 2.9-fold higher as compared to the control, and co-transformation led up to 4.1-fold AsA enhancement. These results provided further evidence that GGT is the key enzyme in plant AsA biosynthesis.

Keywords: GDP-L-galactose guanyltransferase; transgenic plants; vitamin C
Subjects: GDP-L-galactose guanyltransferase; transgenic plants; ascorbic acid; PCR; transgenic plans; gene construct; ascorbic acid biosynthesis

Received: January 22, 2011; Accepted: May 16, 2011; Published: September 1, 2012  Show citation

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Zhou, Y., Tao, Q.C., Wang, Z.N., Fan, R., Li, Y., Sun, X.F., & Tang, K.X. (2012). Engineering ascorbic acid biosynthetic pathway in Arabidopsis leaves by single and double gene transformation. Biologia plantarum, 56(3), 451-457. doi: 10.1007/s10535-012-0119-x
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