Tuber morphology and starch accumulation are independent phenomena: Evidence from ipt-transgenic potato lines

Tuber formation and carbohydrate metabolism in potatoes were studied using transgenic potato plants carrying the Agrobacterium tumefaciens ipt gene, involved in cytokinin biosynthesis. Three independent transformants, viz. clones 1, 11 and 13, whose cytokinin and auxin content had previously been shown to be different from each other and from the wild-type, were analysed in vitro. Clones 11 and 13 showed a higher ability to form stolons and tubers, as evident from: (1) stolon development in whole plants grown under non-inductive conditions, (2) total number and weight of tubers formed by cuttings of this clone in darkness, (3) tubers appeared earlier than tubers of wild-type plants and at a lower sucrose concentration in the medium. Clone 1 did not form stolons or tubers under any conditions tested, but rather formed short shoots. A series of metabolic changes, known to be characteristic for tubers, were analysed in leaves, stems and developing buds. It was found that the short type of shoots, formed by clone 1, had metabolic characteristics very similar to tubers formed in wild-type or clones 11 and 13, including glucose, fructose, sucrose, and starch levels, and activities of invertase, sucrose synthase and fructokinase. It is concluded that the regulation of the stolon swelling and of carbohydrate metabolism, normally occurring simultaneously, can be uncoupled, and are thus, at least partly independent phenomena. The present data obtained with a high-cytokinin line indicate that cytokinins (probably in concert with auxins) might be mainly involved in the regulation of tuber morphology.