Abstract
BackgroundPanax japonicus C. A. Mey. is a rare traditional Chinese herbal medicine that uses ginsenosides as its main active ingredient. Rice does not produce ginsenosides because it lacks a key rate-limiting enzyme (β-amyrin synthase, βAS); however, it produces a secondary metabolite, 2,3-oxidosqualene, which is a precursor for ginsenoside biosynthesis.ResultsIn the present study, the P. japonicus βAS gene was transformed into the rice cultivar ‘Taijing 9’ using an Agrobacterium-mediated approach, resulting in 68 rice transgenic plants of the T0 generation. Transfer-DNA (T-DNA) insertion sites in homozygous lines of the T2 generation were determined by using high-efficiency thermal asymmetric interlaced PCR (hiTAIL-PCR) and were found to vary among the tested lines. Approximately 1–2 copies of the βAS gene were detected in transgenic rice plants. Real-time PCR and Western blotting analyses showed that the transformed βAS gene could be overexpressed and β-amyrin synthase could be expressed in rice. HPLC analysis showed that the concentration of oleanane-type sapogenin oleanolic acid in transgenic rice was 8.3–11.5 mg/100 g dw.ConclusionsThe current study is the first report on the transformation of P. japonicus βAS gene into rice. We have successfully produced a new rice germplasm, “ginseng rice”, which produces oleanane-type sapogenin.
Highlights
IntroductionRice is one of the world’s major food crops
The current study is the first report on the transformation of P. japonicus β-amyrin synthase (βAS) gene into rice
Transgenic technology provides an efficient means of improving rice quality at the genetic level [2,3,4] based on the principle that creating a new rice germplasm that is capable of producing exogenous active ingredients through genetic engineering could improve the nutritional quality of rice
Summary
Rice is one of the world’s major food crops. It is the staple food for nearly half of the world’s population [1]. Traditional breeding techniques, especially hybrid rice technology, have contributed to the improvement of rice yield and quality. There are compounds that rice cannot synthesize or can only produce at very low levels, and traditional breeding techniques are apparently incapable of resolving these problems. Transgenic technology provides an efficient means of improving rice quality at the genetic level [2,3,4] based on the principle that creating a new rice germplasm that is capable of producing exogenous active ingredients through genetic engineering could improve the nutritional quality of rice. Ye et al [5] and Paine et al [6] produced
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