Abstract
Provitamin A (PVA) bio-fortification of crops offers a sustainable strategy to prevent the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency (VAD), one of the world’s major public health problems. The present work aimed to enhance PVA accumulation in cottonseed, the main by-product in the production of cotton fibers and the third largest source of edible plant oil in the world. On the basis of comprehensive identification of carotenoid synthase genes and their expression levels in various cotton tissues, we selected phytoene synthase as the target for manipulating carotenoid biosynthesis in the developing cottonseeds. After functional verification in transgenic tobacco, a cotton phytoene synthase gene (GhPSY2D) driven by a seed-specific promoter was transformed into cotton. The transgenic cottonseeds showed golden appearance and contained over 6-fold higher carotenoid contents in the extracted oil than the non-transgenic control. Thin layer chromatograph analysis indicated that the main PVA carotenoid β-carotene was predominant in the transgenic cottonseeds, but undetectable in the wild-type control. By simultaneously providing economically valuable fibers and edible oils, the transgenic cottons bio-fortified with β-carotene in seeds may be a new powerful tool against VAD in low-income regions.
Highlights
Solely[5,14] or with other synthases[5,15,16,17,18,19,20] to promote carotenoid biosynthesis, and to express an Orange gene to enhance carotenoid accumulation[15,21,24,27]
Provitamin A (PVA) bio-fortified cotton and cottonseed oil may be a powerful tool against vitamin A deficiency (VAD) prevalence in low-income cotton-growing regions, for example in south Asia and sub-Sahara Africa[3,32,33]
The transcript profile of carotenoid synthase genes suggested that the transcription of PSY genes may be a limiting factor of carotenoid biosynthesis in cottonseeds
Summary
Solely[5,14] or with other synthases[5,15,16,17,18,19,20] to promote carotenoid biosynthesis, and to express an Orange gene to enhance carotenoid accumulation[15,21,24,27]. It was reported that the Orange protein might promote carotenoid biosynthesis via stabilizing the key synthase PSY28,29. Cotton (Gossypium) is the leading natural fiber crop in the world, and is one of the major economic drivers in developing countries. Cotton is a potential supporting crop for poor regions to improve the economic and nutrient status simultaneously. Our work aimed to increase PVA content of cottonseed and the resultant cottonseed oil. To this end, a functional PSY gene predominantly expressed in cotton was cloned, and upregulated in the developing seeds. This work significantly improved the nutritional value of cottonseeds, which provided this cash crop with the potential to prevent VAD prevalence
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