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A novel carotenoid cleavage activity involved in the biosynthesis of Citrus fruit-specific apocarotenoid pigments.

ABSTRACT: Citrus is the first tree crop in terms of fruit production. The colour of Citrus fruit is one of the main quality attributes, caused by the accumulation of carotenoids and their derivative C30 apocarotenoids, mainly ?-citraurin (3-hydroxy-?-apo-8'-carotenal), which provide an attractive orange-reddish tint to the peel of oranges and Mandarins. Though carotenoid biosynthesis and its regulation have been extensively studied in Citrus fruits, little is known about the formation of C30 apocarotenoids. The aim of this study was to the identify carotenoid cleavage enzyme(s) [CCD(s)] involved in the peel-specific C30 apocarotenoids. In silico data mining revealed a new family of five CCD4-type genes in Citrus. One gene of this family, CCD4b1, was expressed in reproductive and vegetative tissues of different Citrus species in a pattern correlating with the accumulation of C30 apocarotenoids. Moreover, developmental processes and treatments which alter Citrus fruit peel pigmentation led to changes of ?-citraurin content and CCD4b1 transcript levels. These results point to the involvement of CCD4b1 in ?-citraurin formation and indicate that the accumulation of this compound is determined by the availability of the presumed precursors zeaxanthin and ?-cryptoxanthin. Functional analysis of CCD4b1 by in vitro assays unequivocally demonstrated the asymmetric cleavage activity at the 7',8' double bond in zeaxanthin and ?-cryptoxanthin, confirming its role in C30 apocarotenoid biosynthesis. Thus, a novel plant carotenoid cleavage activity targeting the 7',8' double bond of cyclic C40 carotenoids has been identified. These results suggest that the presented enzyme is responsible for the biosynthesis of C30 apocarotenoids in Citrus which are key pigments in fruit coloration.

SUBMITTER: Rodrigo MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3808326 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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A novel carotenoid cleavage activity involved in the biosynthesis of Citrus fruit-specific apocarotenoid pigments.

Rodrigo María J MJ Alquézar Berta B Alós Enriqueta E Medina Víctor V Carmona Lourdes L Bruno Mark M Al-Babili Salim S Zacarías Lorenzo L

Journal of experimental botany 20130904 14

Citrus is the first tree crop in terms of fruit production. The colour of Citrus fruit is one of the main quality attributes, caused by the accumulation of carotenoids and their derivative C30 apocarotenoids, mainly β-citraurin (3-hydroxy-β-apo-8'-carotenal), which provide an attractive orange-reddish tint to the peel of oranges and Mandarins. Though carotenoid biosynthesis and its regulation have been extensively studied in Citrus fruits, little is known about the formation of C30 apocarotenoid ...[more]

PMID: 24006419

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Project description:Crocus sativus stigmas form rich source of apocarotenoids like crocin, picrocrocin and saffranal which besides imparting color, flavour and aroma to saffron spice also have tremendous pharmacological properties. Inspite of their importance, the biosynthetic pathway of Crocus apocarotenoids is not fully elucidated. Moreover, the mechanism of their stigma specific accumulation remains unknown. Therefore, deep transcriptome sequencing of Crocus stigma and rest of the flower tissue was done to identify the genes and transcriptional regulators involved in the biosynthesis of these compounds.Transcriptome of stigma and rest of the flower tissue was sequenced using Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx platform which generated 64,604,402 flower and 51,350,714 stigma reads. Sequences were assembled de novo using trinity resulting in 64,438 transcripts which were classified into 32,204 unigenes comprising of 9853 clusters and 22,351 singletons. A comprehensive functional annotation and gene ontology (GO) analysis was carried out. 58.5 % of the transcripts showed similarity to sequences present in public databases while rest could be specific to Crocus. 5789 transcripts showed similarity to transcription factors representing 76 families out of which Myb family was most abundant. Many genes involved in carotenoid/apocarotenoid pathway were identified for the first time in this study which includes zeta-carotene isomerase and desaturase, carotenoid isomerase and lycopene epsilon-cyclase. GO analysis showed that the predominant classes in biological process category include metabolic process followed by cellular process and primary metabolic process. KEGG mapping analysis indicated that pathways involved in ribosome, carbon and starch and sucrose metabolism were highly represented. Differential expression analysis indicated that key carotenoid/apocarotenoid pathway genes including phytoene synthase, phytoene desaturase and carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 2 are enriched in stigma thereby providing molecular proof for stigma to be the site of apocarotenoid biosynthesis.This data would provide a rich source for understanding the carotenoid/apocarotenoid metabolism in Crocus. The database would also help in investigating many questions related to saffron biology including flower development.

Dataset Information

A novel carotenoid cleavage activity involved in the biosynthesis of Citrus fruit-specific apocarotenoid pigments.

Publications

A novel carotenoid cleavage activity involved in the biosynthesis of Citrus fruit-specific apocarotenoid pigments.

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