The biosynthesis and nutritional uses of carotenoids.

Summary
A bacterial phytoene synthase (crtB) gene was overexpressed in a seed-specific manner and the protein product targeted to the plastid in Brassica napus (canola). The resultant embryos from these transgenic plants were visibly orange and the mature seed contained up to a 50-fold increase in carotenoids. The predominant carotenoids accumulating in the seeds of the transgenic plants were alpha and beta-carotene. Other precursors such as phytoene were also detected. Lutein, the predominant carotenoid in control seeds, was not substantially increased in the transgenics. The total amount of carotenoids in these seeds is now equivalent to or greater than those seen in the mesocarp of oil palm. Other metabolites in the isoprenoid pathway were examined in these seeds. Sterol levels remained essentially the same, while tocopherol levels decreased significantly as compared to non-transgenic controls. Chlorophyll levels were also reduced in developing transgenic seed. Additionally, the fatty acyl composition was altered with the transgenic seeds having a relatively higher percentage of the 18 : 1 (oleic acid) component and a decreased percentage of the 18 : 2 (linoleic acid) and 18 : 3 (linolenic acid) components. This dramatic increase in flux through the carotenoid pathway and the other metabolic effects are discussed.

Seed-specific overexpression of phytoene synthase: increase in carotenoids and other metabolic effects

Medium-chain fatty acids (FAs), found in storage lipids of certain plants, are an important renewable resource. Seeds of undomesticated California bay accumulate laurate (12:0), and a 12:0-acyl-carrier protein thioesterase (BTE) has been purified from this tissue. Sequencing of BTE enabled the cloning of a complementary DNA coding for a plastid-targeted preprotein. Expression of the complementary DNA in the seeds of Arabidopsis thaliana resulted in BTE activity, and medium chains accumulated at the expense of long-chain (greater than or equal to 16) FAs. Laurate became the most abundant FA species and was deposited in the storage triacylglycerols. These results demonstrate a mechanism for medium-chain FA synthesis in plants.

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/257/5066/72.full.pdf

Fatty acid biosynthesis redirected to medium chains in transgenic oilseed plants.

Acyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterases play an essential role in chain termination during de novo fatty acid synthesis and in the channeling of carbon flux between the two lipid biosynthesis pathways in plants. We have discovered that there are two distinct but related thioesterase gene classes in higher plants, termed FatA and FatB, whose evolutionary divergence appears to be ancient. FatA encodes the already described 18:1-ACP thioesterase. In contrast, FatB representatives encode thioesterases preferring acyl-ACPs having saturated acyl groups. We unexpectedly obtained a 16:0-ACP thioesterase cDNA from Cuphea hookeriana seed, which accumulate predominantly 8:0 and 10:0. The 16:0 thioesterase transcripts were found in non-seed tissues, and expression in transgenic Brassica napus led to the production of a 16:0-rich oil. We present evidence that this type of FatB gene is ancient and ubiquitous in plants and that specialized plant medium-chain thioesterases have evolved independently from such enzymes several times during angiosperm evolution. Also, the ubiquitous 18:1-ACP thioesterase appears to be a derivative of a 16:0 thioesterase.

Palmitoyl-acyl carrier protein (ACP) thioesterase and the evolutionary origin of plant acyl-ACP thioesterases.

The jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) plant produces esters of long-chain alcohols and fatty acids (waxes) as a seed lipid energy reserve. This is in contrast to the triglycerides found in seeds of other plants. We purified an alcohol-forming fatty acyl-coenzyme A reductase (FAR) from developing embryos and cloned the cDNA encoding the enzyme. Expression of a cDNA in Escherichia coli confers FAR activity upon those cells and results in the accumulation of fatty alcohols. The FAR sequence shows significant homology to an Arabidopsis protein of unknown function that is essential for pollen development. When the jojoba FAR cDNA is expressed in embryos of Brassica napus, long-chain alcohols can be detected in transmethylated seed oils. Resynthesis of the gene to reduce its A plus T content resulted in increased levels of alcohol production. In addition to free alcohols, novel wax esters were detected in the transgenic seed oils. In vitro assays revealed that B. napus embryos have an endogenous fatty acyl-coenzyme A: fatty alcohol acyl-transferase activity that could account for this wax synthesis. Thus, introduction of a single cDNA into B. napus results in a redirection of a portion of seed oil synthesis from triglycerides to waxes.

Purification of a jojoba embryo fatty acyl-coenzyme A reductase and expression of its cDNA in high erucic acid rapeseed.

An expressed napin storage protein gene from Brassica rapa, BcNA1, has been cloned and sequenced. The gene is a member of a family of four to seven napin genes in B. rapa and is highly expressed in developing seeds. An expression cassette containing the DNA flanking the napin coding region of BcNA1 has been engineered and demonstrated to function appropriately, as compared with the gene's endogenous expression, in transgenic rapeseed using the β-glucuronidase reporter gene. The B. rapa BcNA1 gene and a B. napus napin gene, gNa, share extremely high nucleotide homology not only throughout their coding regions, but over a DNA locus comprising 4.3 kb. We suggest the gNa gene was contributed by the original B. rapa progenitor of the amphidiploid B. napus.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/6B17B63529ECD38D235CF85402F846A0/S0960258500000921a.pdf/div-class-title-isolation-and-characterization-of-an-expressed-napin-gene-from-span-class-italic-brassica-rapa-span-div.pdf

Isolation and characterization of an expressed napin gene from Brassica rapa

A genomic clone of an acyl carrier protein gene (Bcg4-4) which is highly expressed in developing embryos of Brassica rapa was isolated and sequenced. The promoter and transcription terminator regions of Bcg4-4 were used to express a β-glucuronidase reporter gene in transgenic rapeseed. Deletion of repeated domains in the promoter region did not lower β-glucuronidase expression in seeds.

David W. McCarter

Papers

Isolation and characterization of an expressed napin gene from Brassica rapa

Non-essential repeats in the promoter region of a Brassica rapa acyl carrier protein gene expressed in developing embryos.