Stem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum
Abstract Background Sugar content is critically important in determining sugar crop productivity. However, improvement in sugar content has been stagnant among sugar crops for decades. Sorghum, especially sweet sorghum with high biomass, shown great potential for biofuel, has lower sugar content tha...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Biotechnology for Biofuels |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-021-01907-z |
| _version_ | 1818554544892674048 |
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| author | Guoquan Liu Yan Zhang Hao Gong Shan Li Yunrong Pan Christopher Davis Hai-Chun Jing Luguang Wu Ian D. Godwin |
| author_facet | Guoquan Liu Yan Zhang Hao Gong Shan Li Yunrong Pan Christopher Davis Hai-Chun Jing Luguang Wu Ian D. Godwin |
| author_sort | Guoquan Liu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Sugar content is critically important in determining sugar crop productivity. However, improvement in sugar content has been stagnant among sugar crops for decades. Sorghum, especially sweet sorghum with high biomass, shown great potential for biofuel, has lower sugar content than sugarcane. To enhance sugar content, the sucrose isomerase (SI) gene, driven by stem-specific promoters (A2 or LSG) with a vacuole-targetted signal peptide, was transformed into the sorghum inbred line (T×430). Results The study demonstrated that transgenic lines of grain sorghum, containing 50–60% isomaltulose, accumulated up to eightfold (1000 mM) more total sugar than the control T×430 did (118 mM) in stalks of T0 generation. Subsequently, the elite engineered lines (A5, and LSG9) were crossed with sweet sorghum (Rio, and R9188). Total sugar contents (over 750 mM), were notably higher in F1, and F2 progenies than the control Rio (480 mM). The sugar contents of the engineered lines (over 750 mM), including T0, T1, F1, and F2, are surprisingly higher than that of the field-grown sugarcane (normal range 600–700 mmol/L). Additionally, analysis of physiological characterization demonstrated that the superior progenies had notably higher rates of photosynthesis, sucrose transportation, and sink strength than the controls. Conclusions The genetic engineering approach has dramatically enhanced total sugar content in grain sorghum (T0, and T1) and hybrid sorghum (F1, and F2), demonstrating that sorghum can accumulate as high or higher sugar content than sugarcane. This research illustrates that the SI gene has enormous potential on improvement of sugar content in sorghum, particularly in hybirds and sweet sorghum. The substantial increase on sugar content would lead to significant financial benefits for industrial utilization. This study could have a substantial impact on renewable bioenergy. More importantly, our results demonstrated that the phenotype of high sugar content is inheritable and shed light on improvement for other sugar crops. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T09:41:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1c9d55b16cf84119beef9b8be40af3fc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1754-6834 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T09:41:13Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biotechnology for Biofuels |
| spelling | doaj.art-1c9d55b16cf84119beef9b8be40af3fc2022-12-22T00:28:33ZengBMCBiotechnology for Biofuels1754-68342021-03-0114111410.1186/s13068-021-01907-zStem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghumGuoquan Liu0Yan Zhang1Hao Gong2Shan Li3Yunrong Pan4Christopher Davis5Hai-Chun Jing6Luguang Wu7Ian D. Godwin8Centre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of QueenslandCentre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of QueenslandCentre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of QueenslandCentre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of QueenslandSchool of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of QueenslandSchool of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of QueenslandKey Laboratory of Plant Resources, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of SciencesSchool of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of QueenslandCentre for Crop Science, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of QueenslandAbstract Background Sugar content is critically important in determining sugar crop productivity. However, improvement in sugar content has been stagnant among sugar crops for decades. Sorghum, especially sweet sorghum with high biomass, shown great potential for biofuel, has lower sugar content than sugarcane. To enhance sugar content, the sucrose isomerase (SI) gene, driven by stem-specific promoters (A2 or LSG) with a vacuole-targetted signal peptide, was transformed into the sorghum inbred line (T×430). Results The study demonstrated that transgenic lines of grain sorghum, containing 50–60% isomaltulose, accumulated up to eightfold (1000 mM) more total sugar than the control T×430 did (118 mM) in stalks of T0 generation. Subsequently, the elite engineered lines (A5, and LSG9) were crossed with sweet sorghum (Rio, and R9188). Total sugar contents (over 750 mM), were notably higher in F1, and F2 progenies than the control Rio (480 mM). The sugar contents of the engineered lines (over 750 mM), including T0, T1, F1, and F2, are surprisingly higher than that of the field-grown sugarcane (normal range 600–700 mmol/L). Additionally, analysis of physiological characterization demonstrated that the superior progenies had notably higher rates of photosynthesis, sucrose transportation, and sink strength than the controls. Conclusions The genetic engineering approach has dramatically enhanced total sugar content in grain sorghum (T0, and T1) and hybrid sorghum (F1, and F2), demonstrating that sorghum can accumulate as high or higher sugar content than sugarcane. This research illustrates that the SI gene has enormous potential on improvement of sugar content in sorghum, particularly in hybirds and sweet sorghum. The substantial increase on sugar content would lead to significant financial benefits for industrial utilization. This study could have a substantial impact on renewable bioenergy. More importantly, our results demonstrated that the phenotype of high sugar content is inheritable and shed light on improvement for other sugar crops.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-021-01907-zIsomaltuloseSorghumSucrose isomeraseSugar contentRenewable energyPhotosynthesis |
| spellingShingle | Guoquan Liu Yan Zhang Hao Gong Shan Li Yunrong Pan Christopher Davis Hai-Chun Jing Luguang Wu Ian D. Godwin Stem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum Biotechnology for Biofuels Isomaltulose Sorghum Sucrose isomerase Sugar content Renewable energy Photosynthesis |
| title | Stem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum |
| title_full | Stem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum |
| title_fullStr | Stem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum |
| title_short | Stem vacuole-targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum |
| title_sort | stem vacuole targetted sucrose isomerase enhances sugar content in sorghum |
| topic | Isomaltulose Sorghum Sucrose isomerase Sugar content Renewable energy Photosynthesis |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-021-01907-z |
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