Abstract
Phytic acid, or myo-inositol 1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakisphosphate, is the main storage form of phosphorus in plants. It is localized in seeds, deposited as mixed salts of mineral cations in protein storage vacuoles; during germination, it is hydrolyzed by phytases to make available P together with all the other cations needed for seed germination. When seeds are used as food or feed, phytic acid and the bound cations are poorly bioavailable for human and monogastric livestock due to their lack of phytase activity. Therefore, reducing the amount of phytic acid is one strategy in breeding programs aimed to improve the nutritional properties of major crops. In this work, we present data on the isolation of a new maize (Zea mays L.) low phytic acid 1 (lpa1) mutant allele obtained by transposon tagging mutagenesis with the Ac element. We describe the generation of the mutagenized population and the screening to isolate new lpa1 mutants. In particular, we developed a fast, cheap and non-disrupting screening method based on the different density of lpa1 seed compared to the wild type. This assay allowed the isolation of the lpa1-5525 mutant characterized by a new mutation in the lpa1 locus associated with a lower amount of phytic phosphorus in the seeds in comparison with the wild type.
Highlights
Phytic acid is the most common form of phosphate present in cereal kernels as well as in seeds of most plants [1,2]
We present data on the isolation of a new maize (Zea mays L.) low phytic acid 1 mutant allele obtained by transposon tagging mutagenesis with the Ac element
To identify the putative mutagenized seeds in the F1 progeny, we developed and used a novel fast and cheap screening method based on the different density of lpa1 seeds in comparison with the wild type
Summary
Phytic acid (myo-inositol-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexakisphosphate, or InsP6) is the most common form of phosphate present in cereal kernels as well as in seeds of most plants [1,2]. Cereals’ seeds contain on average 10 mg of phytic acid, which account from 65% to 90% of the total phosphorus present inside the seed [3]. Maize is a model plant in genetic studies aimed at understanding the role of genes involved in biosynthetic pathways and in plant morphogenesis. For those reasons, maize is considered one of the most important plants studied and used in genetic improvement programs
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