Nature Biotechnology
23, 890 - 895 (2005)
Published online: 12 June 2005; | doi:10.1038/nbt1108
Fruit-specific RNAi-mediated suppression of DET1 enhances carotenoid and flavonoid content in tomatoesGanga Rao Davuluri1, Ageeth van Tuinen1, 6, Paul D Fraser2, Alessandro Manfredonia1, Robert Newman3, 6, Diane Burgess3, David A Brummell3, 6, Stephen R King4, 6, Joe Palys4, John Uhlig4, Peter M Bramley2, Henk M J Pennings4
& Chris Bowler1, 51
Cell Signaling Laboratory, Stazione Zoologica, Villa Comunale, I-80121
Naples, Italy. 2
Royal Holloway, University of London, Biological Sciences, Egham, Surrey, TW20 OEX, UK. 3
DNA Plant Technology, 6701 San Pablo Avenue, Oakland, California
94608, USA. 4
Seminis Vegetable Seeds, Inc., 37437 State Highway 16, Woodland, California
95695, USA. 5
CNRS/ENS FRE2910, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 46 rue d'Ulm, 75230
Paris
Cedex 05, France. 6
Present addresses: Laboratory for Plant Physiology, Wageningen University, Arboretumlaan 4, 6703 BD
Wageningen, The Netherlands (A.v.T.), Verdia Inc., 200 Penobscot Drive, Redwood City, California
94063, USA (R.N.), Crop and Food Research, Food Industry Science Center, Batchelar Road, Palmerston North, New Zealand (D.A.B.), and Department of Horticultural Sciences, Vegetable & Fruit Improvement Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
77843-2119, USA (S.R.K.).
Correspondence should be addressed to Chris Bowler cbowler@biologie.ens.frTomatoes are a principal dietary source of carotenoids and flavonoids, both of which are highly beneficial for human health1,
2. Overexpression of genes encoding biosynthetic enzymes or transcription factors have resulted in tomatoes with improved carotenoid or flavonoid content, but never with both3,
4,
5,
6,
7. We attempted to increase tomato fruit nutritional value by suppressing an endogenous photomorphogenesis regulatory gene, DET1, using fruit-specific promoters combined with RNA interference (RNAi) technology. Molecular analysis indicated that DET1 transcripts were indeed specifically degraded in transgenic fruits. Both carotenoid and flavonoid contents were increased significantly, whereas other parameters of fruit quality were largely unchanged. These results demonstrate that manipulation of a plant regulatory gene can simultaneously influence the production of several phytonutrients generated from independent biosynthetic pathways, and provide a novel example of the use of organ-specific gene silencing to improve the nutritional value of plant-derived products.
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
|
