Overexpression of carotenogenic genes in the Japanese morning glory <i>Ipomoea</i> (<i>Pharbitis</i>) <i>nil</i>

  • Watanabe Kenta
    Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba
  • Oda-Yamamizo Chihiro
    Institute of Vegetable and Floriculture Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
  • Sage-Ono Kimiyo
    Gene Research Center, Tsukuba Plant Innovation Research Center (T-PIRC), Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba
  • Ohmiya Akemi
    Institute of Vegetable and Floriculture Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization
  • Ono Michiyuki
    Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba Gene Research Center, Tsukuba Plant Innovation Research Center (T-PIRC), Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba

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  • Overexpression of carotenogenic genes in the Japanese morning glory Ipomoea (Pharbitis) nil

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Description

Japanese morning glory, Ipomoea nil, has several coloured flowers except yellow, because it can accumulate only trace amounts of carotenoids in the petal. To make the petal yellow with carotenoids, we introduced five carotenogenic genes (geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate synthase, phytoene synthase, lycopene β-cyclase and β-ring hydroxylase from Ipomoea obscura var. lutea and bacterial phytoene desaturase from Pantoea ananatis) to white-flowered I. nil cv. AK77 with a petal-specific promoter by Rhizobium (Agrobacterium)-mediated transformation method. We succeeded to produce transgenic plants overexpressing carotenogenic genes. In the petal of the transgenic plants, mRNA levels of the carotenogenic genes were 10 to 1,000 times higher than those of non-transgenic control. The petal colour did not change visually; however, carotenoid concentration in the petal was increased up to about ten-fold relative to non-transgenic control. Moreover, the components of carotenoids in the petal were diversified, in particular, several β-carotene derivatives, such as zeaxanthin and neoxanthin, were newly synthesized. This is the first report, to our knowledge, of changing the component and increasing the amount of carotenoid in petals that lack ability to biosynthesize carotenoids.

Journal

  • Plant Biotechnology

    Plant Biotechnology 34 (4), 177-185, 2017

    Japanese Society for Plant Biotechnology

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