Abstract
Phytases, which belong to a special category of orthophosphoric monoester phosphohydrolases, degrade inositol hexaphosphate to produce lower-grade inositol phosphate derivatives and inorganic phosphate. Thus, phytases may improve phosphorus utilization, eliminate the anti-nutrient properties of phytic acid, and mitigate environmental pollution due to phosphorus contamination. In this study, we constructed a new root-specific expression vector by inserting the Aspergillus ficuum phytase gene PhyA2 into pCAMBIA3301-ZmGLU1P-Nos. The subsequent molecular analysis confirmed that six T4 generation transgenic plants carried and expressed PhyA2. A quantitative real-time PCR analysis indicated PhyA2 was highly expressed in the transgenic roots. Additionally, the phytase activity was 10.9-fold higher in the transgenic roots (peak activity of 5.432 U/g) than in the control roots. Moreover, compared with the control rhizosphere, the organic phosphorus content in the rhizosphere of the transgenic plants decreased significantly (by up to 5.21 mg/kg). An agronomic trait analysis indicated that PhyA2 expression can increase maize seed weight by up to 25.8 g. Therefore, the integration of PhyA2 into the maize genome can enhance the ability of maize plants to use the phosphorus compounds in soil, while also improving the plant growth status and increasing the seed yield.
Highlights
As one of the three most important crops, maize is widely used, including as food, feed, and industrial raw materials (Wu et al 2014)
The new plant expression vector was digested with XbaI and HindIII and the resulting fragments were examined in an agarose gel (Fig. 3)
The rapid development of biotechnology has enabled researchers to investigate the effects of the ectopic expression of phytase genes in transgenic plants
Summary
As one of the three most important crops, maize is widely used, including as food, feed, and industrial raw materials (Wu et al 2014). Organic phosphorus represents approximately 20–80% of the total phosphorus content in soil, with more than 50% of the organic phosphorus existing as phytate phosphorus, which is difficult for plants to absorb and use (Enqing et al 2018). Phytate phosphorus is an important form of phosphorus in maize plants, especially in seeds, wherein it accounts for about 70% of the total phosphorus content. The digestive tract of monogastric animals lacks enzymes to hydrolyze phytate phosphorus, resulting in its excretion into the environment in feces. This decreases the phosphorus utilization by animals, it increases environmental pollution due to organic phosphorus (Yan 2012). Phytases are a class of enzymes that can catalyze the hydrolysis of phytate phosphorus and release inorganic phosphate and inositol that can be passively absorbed and used by plants (Valeeva et al 2018)
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