Molecular cloning and sequence comparison of a cDNA encoding α-glucan, water dikinase (GWD) from potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), and analysis of gene expression

Starch phosphorylation is an important biochemical aspect of plant starch metabolism as it influences the overall structure of the starch granule, and a prerequisite for its degradation. There is a growing interest on the isolation and characterization of α-glucan/glucan-like, water dikinases (GWDs) from plants, particularly agriculturally important crops, because GWD is known to catalyze starch phosphorylation both in leaves and different plant storage organs. In the present study, a 4,789-bp full-length cDNA encoding a GWD isoform was isolated from a commercially important Indian potato cultivar, Kufri Chipsona-1 by RT-PCR approach using tuber RNA. The predicted protein consisted of 1,463 amino acids having N-terminal 77-amino acid transit peptide, and 1,386-amino acid mature protein shorter by one amino acid as compared to the other mature GWDs from potato and tomato. The mature GWD showed 98 % sequence identity with the GWD isolated earlier from the potato cv. Desiree. Variations were found at 25 locations representing mostly non-conservative substitutions. The GWD represents a distinct isoform from potato, as revealed by sequence and phylogenetic analyses. Amino acid composition, segment-wise hydrophobic characters, predicted secondary structures were also analyzed and documented in this report. Broadly, the level of GWD expression as analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR approach was found to be nearly uniform both in the mature tubers and leaves from most of the potato cultivars. By immunodetection technique, a band corresponding to ~155 kDa protein was detected only in the tuber protein extracts. The tuber starch-bound phosphorus content data showed minor variations between the potato cultivars.     

Allele diversity for the apoplastic invertase inhibitor gene from potato

In planta the enzymatic activity of apoplastic and vacuolar invertases is controlled by inhibitory proteins. Although these invertase inhibitors (apoplastic and vacuolar forms) have been implicated as contributing to resistance to cold-induced sweetening (CIS) in tubers of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), there is a lack of information on the structure and allelic diversity of the apoplastic invertase inhibitor genes. We have PCR-isolated and sequenced the alleles of the apoplastic invertase inhibitor gene (Stinh1) from three tetraploid potato genotypes: 1021/1 (a genotype with very high tolerance to CIS), 'Karaka' and 'Summer Delight' (two cultivars that are highly susceptible to CIS). In total, five alleles were identified in these genotypes, of which four (Stinh1-c, Stinh1-d, Stinh1-e, Stinh1-f) were novel. An analysis of allele diversity was conducted by incorporating previously published sequences of apoplastic invertase inhibitors from potato. Eight alleles were assessed for sequence polymorphism in the two exons and the single hypervariable intron. Contrary to the hypervariable intron, only 65 single nucleotide polymorphisms were observed in the exons, of which 42 confer amino acid substitutions. Phylogenetic analysis of amino acid sequences indicates that the alleles of the invertase inhibitor are highly conserved amongst members of the Solanaceae family.     

马铃薯转化酶抑制子St-inh cDNA克隆及在大肠杆菌中的表达和功能测定

用RT-PCR结合5’RACE方法从马铃薯(Solarium tuberosum L．)栽培种JH块茎中克隆了转化酶抑制子St-inh全长cDNA。序列分析表明,St-inh基因编码区全长663bp,编码221个氨基酸。将含St-inh基因cDNA的DNA片段克隆到pET28a( )上,转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)后成功实现了表达。基因表达产物与马铃薯栽培品种(系)E1、JH试管块茎以及番茄果实的转化酶提取物共孵育结果显示,转化酶活性分别下降了34．3％、21％和33．8％,说明St-inh的翻译产物具有转化酶抑制子功能。BLAST基因序列分析表明,St-inh与Kunitz-type C类基因序列同源性达95％以上,T-COFFEE氨基酸序列对比分析显示,该基因编码的蛋白质具有典型的Kunitz-type结构域[L,I,V,M]-X-D-X-[E,D,N,T,Y]-[D,G]-[R,K,H,D,E,N,Q]-X-[L,I,V,M]-X(5)-Y-X-[L,I,V,M],因此,St-inh基因可能为Kunitz-type家族成员。     

Post‐translational regulation of acid invertase activity by vacuolar invertase inhibitor affects resistance to cold‐induced sweetening of potato tubers

Cold‐induced sweetening (CIS) is a serious post‐harvest problem for potato tubers, which need to be stored cold to prevent sprouting and pathogenesis in order to maintain supply throughout the year. During storage at cold temperatures (below 10 °C), many cultivars accumulate free reducing sugars derived from a breakdown of starch to sucrose that is ultimately cleaved by acid invertase to produce glucose and fructose. When affected tubers are processed by frying or roasting, these reducing sugars react with free asparagine by the Maillard reaction, resulting in unacceptably dark‐coloured and bitter‐tasting product and generating the probable carcinogen acrylamide as a by‐product. We have previously identified a vacuolar invertase inhibitor (INH2) whose expression correlates both with low acid invertase activity and with resistance to CIS. Here we show that, during cold storage, overexpression of the INH2 vacuolar invertase inhibitor gene in CIS‐susceptible potato tubers reduced acid invertase activity, the accumulation of reducing sugars and the generation of acrylamide in subsequent fry tests. Conversely, suppression of vacuolar invertase inhibitor expression in a CIS‐resistant line increased susceptibility to CIS. The results show that post‐translational regulation of acid invertase by the vacuolar invertase inhibitor is an important component of resistance to CIS.     

RNAi-mediated silencing of endogenous <Emphasis Type="Italic">Vlnv</Emphasis> gene confers stable reduction of cold-induced sweetening in potato (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum tuberosum</Emphasis> L. cv. Désirée)

Potato tubers must be cold-stored to extend their shelf life and maintain an uninterrupted supply chain for food processors. However, a side-effect of low-temperature storage is manifested in terms of cold-induced sweetening (CIS) of potato tubers, which reduces the processing quality and the commercial value of the end-products. RNA interference (RNAi) technology, whereby transgene-derived small interfering RNAs can trigger the homology-based knockdown of cognate host genes and can initiate gene silencing, has been successfully applied in crop improvement through targeted gene knockout in host plants. In the current study, transgenic potato plants (Solanum tuberosum cv. Désirée) were generated, expressing a 300 bp hairpin loop nucleotide sequence targeting the potato vacuolar invertase gene (VInv), under the constitutive Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Tubers collected from transgenic lines showed a significant reduction in reducing sugar content after 180 days of cold storage, without showing any measurable off-target effects on plant morphology and tuberization compared to non-transformed control plants. The cold-stored tubers were further assayed for chip color, which showed a fairly light colored quality in the samples originating from RNAi lines. Together with similar effects seen in previously published experiments involving other potato varieties, the Désirée results described here establish the efficacy of using RNAi for the successful reduction of CIS in potato tubers.     

Soluble acid invertase determines the hexose-to-sucrose ratio in cold-stored potato tubers

Cold storage of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) tubers is known to cause accumulation of reducing sugars. Hexose accumulation has been shown to be cultivar-dependent and proposed to be the result of sucrose hydrolysis via invertase. To study whether hexose accumulation is indeed related to the amount of invertase activities, two different approaches were used: (i) neutral and acidic invertase activities as well as soluble sugars were measured in cold-stored tubers of 24 potato cultivars differing in the cold-induced accumulation of reducing sugars and (ii) antisense potato plants with reduced soluble acid invertase activities were created and the soluble sugar accumulation in cold-stored tubers was studied. The cold-induced hexose accumulation in tubers from the different potato cultivars varied strongly (up to eightfold). Large differences were also detected with respect to soluble acid (50-fold) and neutral (5-fold) invertase activities among the different cultivars. Although there was almost no correlation between the total amount of invertase activity and the accumulation of reducing sugars there was a striking correlation between the hexose/sucrose ratio and the extractable soluble invertase activitiy. To exclude the possibility that other cultivar-specific features could account for the obtained results, the antisense approach was used to decrease the amount of soluble acid invertase activity in a uniform genetic background. To this end the cDNA of a cold-inducible soluble acid invertase (EMBL nucleicacid database accession no. X70368) was cloned from the cultivar Desirée, and transgenic potato plants were created expressing this cDNA in the antisense orientation under control of the constitutive 35S cauliflower mosaic virus promotor. Analysis of the harvested and cold-stored tubers showed that inhibition of the soluble acid invertase activity leads to a decreased hexose and an increased sucrose content compared with controls. As was already found for the different potato cultivars the hexose/sucrose ratio decreased with decreasing invertase activities but the total amount of soluble sugars did not significantly change. From these data we conclude that invertases do not control the total amount of soluble sugars in coldstored potato tubers but are involved in the regulation of the ratio of hexose to sucrose.The authors are grateful to Heike Deppner and Christiane Prüßner for tuber harvest and technical assistance during the further analysis. We thank Andrea Knospe for taking care of tissue culture, Birgit Schäfer for patient photographic work, Hellmuth Fromme and the greenhouse personnel for attending plant growth and development and Astrid Basner for elucidating the sequence of clone INV-19. The work was supported by the Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie (BMFT).     

Cloning and functional analysis of chicory root fructan1‐exohydrolase I (1‐FEH I): a vacuolar enzyme derivedfrom a cell‐wall invertase ancestor? Mass fingerprint of the 1‐FEH I enzyme

This paper describes the cloning and functional analysis of chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) fructan 1-exohydrolase I cDNA (1-FEH I). To our knowledge it is the first plant FEH cloned. Full-length cDNA was obtained by a combination of RT-PCR, 5' and 3' RACE using primers based on N-terminal and conserved amino acid sequences. Electrophoretically purified 1-FEH I enzyme was further analyzed by in-gel trypsin digestion followed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization and electrospray time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. Functionality of the cDNA was demonstrated by heterologous expression in potato tubers. 1-FEH I takes a new, distinct position in the phylogenetic tree of plant glycosyl hydrolases being more homologous to cell-wall invertases (44-53%) than to vacuolar invertases (38-41%) and fructosyl transferases (33-38%). The 1-FEH I enzyme could not be purified from the apoplastic fluid at significantly higher levels than can be explained by cellular leakage. These and other data suggest a vacuolar localization for 1-FEH I. Also, the pI of the enzyme (6.5) is lower than expected from a typical cell-wall invertase. Unlike plant fructosyl transferases that are believed to have evolved from a vacuolar invertase, 1-FEH I might have evolved from a cell-wall invertase-like ancestor gene that later obtained a vacuolar targeting signal. 1-FEH I mRNA quantities increase in the roots throughout autumn, and especially when roots are stored at low temperature.     

Vacuolar Invertase Gene Silencing in Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) Improves Processing Quality by Decreasing the Frequency of Sugar-End Defects

Sugar-end defect is a tuber quality disorder and persistent problem for the French fry processing industry that causes unacceptable darkening of one end of French fries. This defect appears when environmental stress during tuber growth increases post-harvest vacuolar acid invertase activity at one end of the tuber. Reducing sugars produced by invertase form dark-colored Maillard reaction products during frying. Acrylamide is another Maillard reaction product formed from reducing sugars and acrylamide consumption has raised health concerns worldwide. Vacuolar invertase gene (VInv) expression was suppressed in cultivars Russet Burbank and Ranger Russet using RNA interference to determine if this approach could control sugar-end defect formation. Acid invertase activity and reducing sugar content decreased at both ends of tubers. Sugar-end defects and acrylamide in fried potato strips were strongly reduced in multiple transgenic potato lines. Thus vacuolar invertase silencing can minimize a long-standing French fry quality problem while providing consumers with attractive products that reduce health concerns related to dietary acrylamide.     

Purification and characterization of potato ribonuclease P

Ribonuclease P (RNase P), a ribonucleo-protein endoribonuclease, responsible for 5′ maturation of precursor tDNA, is well characterized in bacteria, yeast and human, but not in plant. Attempt has been made to partially purify and characterize nuclear RNase P from potato. cDNAs encoding two putative protein subunits of potato ribonuclease P (RNase P), StPop5 and StRpp25, were picked from potato EST library based on homology with respective human RNase P protein subunits. Both the cDNAs, 435 bp long StPop5 and 765 bp long StRpp25, were RT-PCR amplified, cloned and sequenced. StPop5 exhibited 46 % nucleotide sequence similarity to the hPop5 sequence. The deduced amino acid sequence of StPop5 had 23 % identity and 35 % similarity to hPop5. Both hRpp25 and StRpp25 had 46 % nucleotide sequence homology, and 17 % identity and 27 % similarity at a length of 271 amino acids. The molecular masses of purified 6× His-tagged recombinant StPop5 and StRpp25 proteins were 18 kDa and 33 kDa respectively. Potato nuclear RNase P was partially purified from leaves employing DEAE-Sephacel anion-exchange chromatography, and from floral buds employing DEAE-Sephacel and HiTrap Q anion-exchange chromatography, ammonium sulfate precipitation and gel filtration chromatography. Immunoprecipitation with polyclonal antisera, raised against recombinant StPop5 and StRpp25, demonstrated association of these two proteins with floral bud RNase P activity but not with leaf RNase P activity.     

Cloning of a vacuolar invertase from Belgian endive leaves (Cichorium intybus)

Although a lot of vacuolar invertase (EC 3.2.1.26) cDNAs are available from a diversity of plant species, up to now no sequence information is available on invertases from any dicot fructan-containing species. Therefore, we describe the cloning of vacuolar acid invertase cDNA from etiolated Belgian endive leaves ( Cichorium intybus L. var. foliosum cv. Flash), formed throughout the forcing process of the witloof chicory roots. Full-length cDNA was obtained by a combination of RT-PCR, PCR and 5'- and 3' RACE RT-PCR, starting with primers based on conserved amino acid sequences. The cloned chicory acid invertase groups together with vacuolar type invertases and fructan biosynthetic enzymes. A putative role for vacuolar type invertases in fructan synthesizing plants is discussed.     

巴西橡胶树HbCMK基因的克隆及表达

根据植物CMK(4-Diphosphocytidyl-2C-methyl-D-erythritol Kinase,CMK)的同源序列设计引物,通过RT-PCR结合RACE的方法在橡胶树中获得了与其相应的CMK基因,命名为HbCMK.序列分析表明HbCMK长1 415 bp,编码388个氨基酸,该氨基酸序列与长春花(Catharanthus roseus)、拟南芥(Arabidopsis thaliana)、甜菊(Stevia rebaudiana)、丹参(Salvia miltiorrhiza)、烟草(Nicotiana benthamiana)和水稻(Oryza sativa)的CMK相似性分别达到72.6%、72.5%、71.9%、70.9%、69.0%和66.9%.半定量RT-PCR结果显示,HbCMK的表达具有组织差异性,在愈伤组织中大量表达,在叶片和胶乳中微量表达,乙烯诱导胶乳HbCMK的表达,伤害对HbCMK的表达几乎没有影响.本实验结果为进一步了解MEP途径在橡胶树胶乳中的作用和天然橡胶生物合成的调控奠定了基础.     

Accumulation of hexoses in leaf vacuoles: Studies with transgenic tobacco plants expressing yeast-derived invertase in the cytosol,vacuole or apoplasm

The subcellular distribution of hexoses, sucrose and amino acids among the stromal, cytosolic and vacuolar compartments was analysed by a nonaqueous fractionation technique in leaves of tobacco (Nicotiana tabaccum L.) wild-type and transgenic plants expressing a yeast-derived invertase in the cytosolic, vacuolar or apoplasmic compartment. In the wild-type plants the amino acids were found to be located in the stroma and in the cytosol, sucrose mainly in the cytosol and up to 98% of the hexoses in the vacuole. In the leaves of the various transformants, where the contents of hexoses were greater than in wild-type plants, again 97–98% of these hexoses were found in the vacuoles. It is concluded that leaf vacuoles contain transporters for the active uptake of glucose and fructose against a high concentration gradient. A comparison of estimated metabolite concentrations in the subcellular compartments of wild-type and transformant plants indicated that the decreased photosynthetic capacity of the transformants is not due to an osmotic effect on photosynthesis, as was shown earlier to be the case in transformed potato leaves, but is the result of a long-term dedifferentiation of tobacco leaf cells to heterotrophic cells.Abbreviations apo-inv tobacco plant with yeast invertase in the apoplasm - Chl chlorophyll - cy-inv tobacco plant with yeast invertase in the cytosol - vac-inv tobacco plant with yeast invertase in the vacuole - WT wild-type tobacco plant The authors thank A. Großpietsch for her able technical assistance. This work has been supported by the Bundesminister für Forschung und Technologie.     

马铃薯转化酶抑制子St-inh cDNA克隆及在大肠杆菌中的表达和功能测定

用RT-PCR结合5’RACE方法从马铃薯(Solanum tuberosum L.)栽培种JH块茎中克隆了转化酶抑制子St-inh 全长cDNA。序列分析表明,St-inh 基因编码区全长663bp,编码221个氨基酸。将含St-inh 基因cDNA 的DNA 片段克隆到pET28a(+)上,转化大肠杆菌BL21(DE3)后成功实现了表达。基因表达产物与马铃薯栽培品种(系)E1、JH 试管块茎以及番茄果实的转化酶提取物共孵育结果显示,转化酶活性分别下降了34.3%、21%和33.8%,说明St-inh 的翻译产物具有转化酶抑制子功能。BLAST 基因序列分析表明,St-inh 与Kunitz-type C 类基因序列同源性达95%以上,T-COF-FEE 氨基酸序列对比分析显示,该基因编码的蛋白质具有典型的Kunitz-type 结构域[L,I,V,M]-X-D-X-[E,D,N,T,Y]-[D,G]-[R,K,H,D,E,N,Q]-X-[L,I,V,M]-X(5)-Y-X-[L,I,V,M],因此,Sit-inh 基因可能为Kunitz-type 家族成员。