Dataset Information

Concerted suppression of all starch branching enzyme genes in barley produces amylose-only starch granules.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Starch is stored in higher plants as granules composed of semi-crystalline amylopectin and amorphous amylose. Starch granules provide energy for the plant during dark periods and for germination of seeds and tubers. Dietary starch is also a highly glycemic carbohydrate being degraded to glucose and rapidly absorbed in the small intestine. But a portion of dietary starch, termed "resistant starch" (RS) escapes digestion and reaches the large intestine, where it is fermented by colonic bacteria producing short chain fatty acids (SCFA) which are linked to several health benefits. The RS is preferentially derived from amylose, which can be increased by suppressing amylopectin synthesis by silencing of starch branching enzymes (SBEs). However all the previous works attempting the production of high RS crops resulted in only partly increased amylose-content and/or significant yield loss.

Results

In this study we invented a new method for silencing of multiple genes. Using a chimeric RNAi hairpin we simultaneously suppressed all genes coding for starch branching enzymes (SBE I, SBE IIa, SBE IIb) in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), resulting in production of amylose-only starch granules in the endosperm. This trait was segregating 3:1. Amylose-only starch granules were irregularly shaped and showed peculiar thermal properties and crystallinity. Transgenic lines retained high-yield possibly due to a pleiotropic upregualtion of other starch biosynthetic genes compensating the SBEs loss. For gelatinized starch, a very high content of RS (65 %) was observed, which is 2.2-fold higher than control (29%). The amylose-only grains germinated with same frequency as control grains. However, initial growth was delayed in young plants.

Conclusions

This is the first time that pure amylose has been generated with high yield in a living organism. This was achieved by a new method of simultaneous suppression of the entire complement of genes encoding starch branching enzymes. We demonstrate that amylopectin is not essential for starch granule crystallinity and integrity. However the slower initial growth of shoots from amylose-only grains may be due to an important physiological role played by amylopectin ordered crystallinity for rapid starch remobilization explaining the broad conservation in the plant kingdom of the amylopectin structure.

SUBMITTER: Carciofi M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3537698 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Concerted suppression of all starch branching enzyme genes in barley produces amylose-only starch granules.

Carciofi Massimiliano M Blennow Andreas A Jensen Susanne L SL Shaik Shahnoor S SS Henriksen Anette A Buléon Alain A Holm Preben B PB Hebelstrup Kim H KH

BMC plant biology 20121121

<h4>Background</h4>Starch is stored in higher plants as granules composed of semi-crystalline amylopectin and amorphous amylose. Starch granules provide energy for the plant during dark periods and for germination of seeds and tubers. Dietary starch is also a highly glycemic carbohydrate being degraded to glucose and rapidly absorbed in the small intestine. But a portion of dietary starch, termed "resistant starch" (RS) escapes digestion and reaches the large intestine, where it is fermented by ...[more]

PMID: 23171412

Similar Datasets

Project description:The domestication of starch crops underpinned the development of human civilisation, yet we still do not fully understand how plants make starch. Starch is composed of glucose polymers that are branched (amylopectin) or linear (amylose). The amount of amylose strongly influences the physico-chemical behaviour of starchy foods during cooking and of starch mixtures in non-food manufacturing processes. The GRANULE-BOUND STARCH SYNTHASE (GBSS) is the glucosyltransferase specifically responsible for elongating amylose polymers and was the only protein known to be required for its biosynthesis. Here, we demonstrate that PROTEIN TARGETING TO STARCH (PTST) is also specifically required for amylose synthesis in Arabidopsis. PTST is a plastidial protein possessing an N-terminal coiled coil domain and a C-terminal carbohydrate binding module (CBM). We discovered that Arabidopsis ptst mutants synthesise amylose-free starch and are phenotypically similar to mutants lacking GBSS. Analysis of granule-bound proteins showed a dramatic reduction of GBSS protein in ptst mutant starch granules. Pull-down assays with recombinant proteins in vitro, as well as immunoprecipitation assays in planta, revealed that GBSS physically interacts with PTST via a coiled coil. Furthermore, we show that the CBM domain of PTST, which mediates its interaction with starch granules, is also required for correct GBSS localisation. Fluorescently tagged Arabidopsis GBSS, expressed either in tobacco or Arabidopsis leaves, required the presence of Arabidopsis PTST to localise to starch granules. Mutation of the CBM of PTST caused GBSS to remain in the plastid stroma. PTST fulfils a previously unknown function in targeting GBSS to starch. This sheds new light on the importance of targeting biosynthetic enzymes to sub-cellular sites where their action is required. Importantly, PTST represents a promising new gene target for the biotechnological modification of starch composition, as it is exclusively involved in amylose synthesis.

Project description:Amylopectin, the major component of starch, is synthesized by synergistic activity of multiple isozymes of starch synthases (SSs) and branching enzymes (BEs). The frequency and length of amylopectin branches determine the functionality of starch. In the rice endosperm, BEIIb generates short side chains of amylopectin and SSI elongates those branches, which can be further elongated by SSIIa. Absence of these enzymes greatly affects amylopectin structure. SSI, SSIIa, and BEIIb associate with each other and with other starch biosynthetic enzymes although SSIIa is low activity in japonica rice. The aim of the current study was to understand how the activity of starch biosynthetic enzyme complexes is compensated in the absence of SSI or BEIIb, and whether the compensatory effects are different in the absence of BEIIb or in the presence of inactive BEIIb. Interactions between starch biosynthetic enzymes were analyzed using one ss1 null mutant and two be2b japonica rice mutants (a mutant producing inactive BEIIb and a mutant that did not produce BEIIb). Soluble proteins extracted from the developing rice seeds were separated by gel filtration chromatography. In the absence of BEIIb activity, BEIIa was eluted in a broad molecular weight range (60-700 kDa). BEIIa in the wild-type was eluted with a mass below 300 kDa. Further, majority of inactive BEIIb co-eluted with SSI, SSIIa, and BEI, in a mass fraction over 700 kDa, whereas only small amounts of these isozymes were found in the wild-type. Compared with the be2b lines, the ss1 mutant showed subtle differences in protein profiles, but the amounts of SSIIa, SSIVb, and BEI in the over-700-kDa fraction were elevated. Immunoprecipitation revealed reduced association of SSIIa and BEIIb in the ss1 mutant, while the association of BEIIb with SSI, SSIIa, SSIVb, BEI, and BEIIa were more pronounced in the be2b mutant that produced inactive BEIIb enzyme. Mass spectrometry and western blotting revealed that SSI, SSIIa, SSIIIa, BEI, BEIIa, starch phosphorylase 1, and pullulanase were bound to the starch granules in the be2b mutants, but not in the wild-type and ss1 mutant. These results will aid the understanding of the mechanism of amylopectin biosynthesis.

Dataset Information

Concerted suppression of all starch branching enzyme genes in barley produces amylose-only starch granules.

Background

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Concerted suppression of all starch branching enzyme genes in barley produces amylose-only starch granules.

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