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PMID: 15247386 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

RNAi-mediated tocopherol deficiency impairs photoassimilate export in transgenic potato plants.

Plant physiology ·Vol. 135 ·No. 3 ·2004-07-00 ·Pages 1256-68

Hofius D, Hajirezaei MR, Geiger M, Tschiersch H, Melzer M, Sonnewald U

Abstract

Tocopherols (vitamin E) are lipophilic antioxidants presumed to play a key role in protecting chloroplast membranes and the photosynthetic apparatus from photooxidative damage. Additional nonantioxidant functions of tocopherols have been proposed after the recent finding that the Suc export defective1 maize (Zea mays) mutant (sxd1) carries a defect in tocopherol cyclase (TC) and thus is devoid of tocopherols. However, the corresponding vitamin E deficient1 Arabidopsis mutant (vte1) lacks a phenotype analogous to sxd1, suggesting differences in tocopherol function between C4 and C3 plants. Therefore, in this study, the potato (Solanum tuberosum) ortholog of SXD1 was isolated and functionally characterized. StSXD1 encoded a protein with high TC activity in vitro, and chloroplastic localization was demonstrated by transient expression of green fluorescent protein-tagged fusion constructs. RNAi-mediated silencing of StSXD1 in transgenic potato plants resulted in the disruption of TC activity and severe tocopherol deficiency similar to the orthologous sxd1 and vte1 mutants. The nearly complete absence of tocopherols caused a characteristic photoassimilate export-defective phenotype comparable to sxd1, which appeared to be a consequence of vascular-specific callose deposition observed in source leaves. CO2 assimilation rates and photosynthetic gene expression were decreased in source leaves in close correlation with excess sugar accumulation, suggesting a carbohydrate-mediated feedback inhibition rather than a direct impact of tocopherol deficiency on photosynthetic capacity. This conclusion is further supported by an increased photosynthetic capacity of young leaves regardless of decreased tocopherol levels. Our data provide evidence that tocopherol deficiency leads to impaired photoassimilate export from source leaves in both monocot and dicot plant species and suggest significant differences among C3 plants in response to tocopherol reduction.

MeSH Terms
Chloroplasts/enzymology,genetics Molecular Sequence Data Plant Proteins/genetics,metabolism Plants, Genetically Modified/genetics,metabolism RNA Interference/physiology RNA, Plant/genetics RNA, Small Interfering/genetics Solanum tuberosum/genetics,metabolism Tocopherols/metabolism
Chemicals
Plant Proteins RNA, Plant RNA, Small Interfering Tocopherols
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Hofius Daniel
Institut für Pflanzengenetik and Kulturpflanzenforschung, D-06466 Gatersleben, Germany. hofius-ipk-gatersleben.de
Hajirezaei Mohammad-Reza
Geiger Michael
Tschiersch Henning
Melzer Michael
Sonnewald Uwe
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Article Info
Journal
Plant physiology
Abbr.
Plant Physiol
ISSN
0032-0889
DOI
10.1104/pp.104.043927
Published
2004-07-00
Epub
2004-00-09
Pages
1256-68
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0401224
PMCID
PMC519045
Subset
IM
Databases
GENBANK
AY536918
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1104/pp.104.043927 PMC Full Text View journal details
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