TY - JOUR
T1 - Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage
AU - Morelli, Luca
AU - Romañach, Laura García
AU - Glauser, Gaetan
AU - Shanmugabalaji, Venkatasalam
AU - Kessler, Felix
AU - Rodriguez-Concepcion, Manuel
PY - 2023/1/28
Y1 - 2023/1/28
N2 - The enrichment of plant tissues in tocochromanols (tocopherols and tocotrienols) is an important biotechnological goal due to their vitamin E and antioxidant properties. Improvements based on stimulating tocochromanol biosynthesis have repeatedly been achieved, however, enhancing sequestering and storage in plant plastids remains virtually unexplored. We previously showed that leaf chloroplasts can be converted into artificial chromoplasts with a proliferation of plastoglobules by overexpression of the bacterial
crtB gene. Here we combined coexpression of
crtB with genes involved in tocopherol biosynthesis to investigate the potential of artificial leaf chromoplasts for vitamin E accumulation in
Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. We show that this combination improves tocopherol levels compared to controls without crtB and confirm that
VTE1,
VTE5,
VTE6 and
tyrA genes are useful to increase the total tocopherol levels, while
VTE4 further leads to enrichment in α-tocopherol (the tocochromanol showing highest vitamin E activity). Additionally, we show that treatments that further promote plastoglobule formation (e.g., exposure to intense light or dark-induced senescence) result in even higher improvements in the tocopherol content of the leaves. An added advantage of our strategy is that it also results in increased levels of other related plastidial isoprenoids such as carotenoids (provitamin A) and phylloquinones (vitamin K1).
AB - The enrichment of plant tissues in tocochromanols (tocopherols and tocotrienols) is an important biotechnological goal due to their vitamin E and antioxidant properties. Improvements based on stimulating tocochromanol biosynthesis have repeatedly been achieved, however, enhancing sequestering and storage in plant plastids remains virtually unexplored. We previously showed that leaf chloroplasts can be converted into artificial chromoplasts with a proliferation of plastoglobules by overexpression of the bacterial
crtB gene. Here we combined coexpression of
crtB with genes involved in tocopherol biosynthesis to investigate the potential of artificial leaf chromoplasts for vitamin E accumulation in
Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. We show that this combination improves tocopherol levels compared to controls without crtB and confirm that
VTE1,
VTE5,
VTE6 and
tyrA genes are useful to increase the total tocopherol levels, while
VTE4 further leads to enrichment in α-tocopherol (the tocochromanol showing highest vitamin E activity). Additionally, we show that treatments that further promote plastoglobule formation (e.g., exposure to intense light or dark-induced senescence) result in even higher improvements in the tocopherol content of the leaves. An added advantage of our strategy is that it also results in increased levels of other related plastidial isoprenoids such as carotenoids (provitamin A) and phylloquinones (vitamin K1).
U2 - 10.3390/metabo13020193
DO - 10.3390/metabo13020193
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 36837812
SN - 2218-1989
VL - 13
JO - Metabolites
JF - Metabolites
IS - 2
M1 - 193
ER -