Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage
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 st...
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MDPI AG
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Metabolites |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/13/2/193 |
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| author | Luca Morelli Laura García Romañach Gaetan Glauser Venkatasalam Shanmugabalaji Felix Kessler Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion |
| author_facet | Luca Morelli Laura García Romañach Gaetan Glauser Venkatasalam Shanmugabalaji Felix Kessler Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion |
| author_sort | Luca Morelli |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | 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 <i>crtB</i> gene. Here we combined coexpression of <i>crtB</i> with genes involved in tocopherol biosynthesis to investigate the potential of artificial leaf chromoplasts for vitamin E accumulation in <i>Nicotiana benthamiana</i> leaves. We show that this combination improves tocopherol levels compared to controls without crtB and confirm that <i>VTE1</i>, <i>VTE5</i>, <i>VTE6</i> and <i>tyrA</i> genes are useful to increase the total tocopherol levels, while <i>VTE4</i> 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). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:26:38Z |
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| issn | 2218-1989 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:26:38Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
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| record_format | Article |
| series | Metabolites |
| spelling | doaj.art-ce4b7810aa1a47f9945bd02532f7c5be2023-11-16T22:04:11ZengMDPI AGMetabolites2218-19892023-01-0113219310.3390/metabo13020193Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and StorageLuca Morelli0Laura García Romañach1Gaetan Glauser2Venkatasalam Shanmugabalaji3Felix Kessler4Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion5Institute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP), CSIC-Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, SpainCentre for Research in Agricultural Genomics (CRAG) CSIC-IRTA-UAB-UB, Campus UAB Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, SpainNeuchâtel Platform of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Neuchâtel, 2000 Neuchâtel, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Neuchâtel, 2000 Neuchâtel, SwitzerlandLaboratory of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Sciences, University of Neuchâtel, 2000 Neuchâtel, SwitzerlandInstitute for Plant Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMCP), CSIC-Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, SpainThe 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 <i>crtB</i> gene. Here we combined coexpression of <i>crtB</i> with genes involved in tocopherol biosynthesis to investigate the potential of artificial leaf chromoplasts for vitamin E accumulation in <i>Nicotiana benthamiana</i> leaves. We show that this combination improves tocopherol levels compared to controls without crtB and confirm that <i>VTE1</i>, <i>VTE5</i>, <i>VTE6</i> and <i>tyrA</i> genes are useful to increase the total tocopherol levels, while <i>VTE4</i> 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).https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/13/2/193tocopherolsvitaminsbiofortification<i>N. benthamiana</i>transient expressionchromoplasts |
| spellingShingle | Luca Morelli Laura García Romañach Gaetan Glauser Venkatasalam Shanmugabalaji Felix Kessler Manuel Rodriguez-Concepcion Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage Metabolites tocopherols vitamins biofortification <i>N. benthamiana</i> transient expression chromoplasts |
| title | Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage |
| title_full | Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage |
| title_fullStr | Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage |
| title_full_unstemmed | Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage |
| title_short | Nutritional Enrichment of Plant Leaves by Combining Genes Promoting Tocopherol Biosynthesis and Storage |
| title_sort | nutritional enrichment of plant leaves by combining genes promoting tocopherol biosynthesis and storage |
| topic | tocopherols vitamins biofortification <i>N. benthamiana</i> transient expression chromoplasts |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/13/2/193 |
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