Transcriptional alterations associated with overexpression of a chlorogenic acid pathway gene in eggplant fruit

Abstract

The fruits of eggplants have different shapes and sizes, which render them ideal for metabolic engineering. They can aid in increasing eggplant chlorogenic acid content, a critical nutrient. Among the phenolic acids found in eggplants, chlorogenic acid is the most important and highly bioactive. This phenolic acid is essential because it promotes good health in humans, and for its production in the fruit flesh, the hydroxyquinone CoA transferase (SmHQT) enzyme is crucial. Therefore, we explored this further by using the agroinfiltration protocol, thereby comparing transgenic and wild type expression via RNA-seq analysis. Given the SmHQT overexpression of 415, the characteristics of the phenylpropanoid pathway are regulated in transgenic eggplants. Furthermore, agroinfiltrated fruit showed around twofold (3.98 g/mg of FW) chlorogenic acid content as compared to the wild type (2.02 g/mg of FW). As a result, the findings shed new light on how to increase eggplant chlorogenic acid content at the molecular level.