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Differential expression of carotenoid biosynthetic pathway genes in two contrasting tomato genotypes for lycopene content

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Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the model plant to study carotenoid biosynthesis. In the present study, the fruit carotenoid content were quantified at different developmental stages for two contrasting genotypes, viz. IIHR-249-1 and IIHR-2866 by UPLC. Lycopene content was high in IIHR-249-1 (19.45 mg/100 g fresh weight) compared to IIHR-2866 (1.88 mg/100 g fresh weight) at the ripe stage. qPCR was performed for genes that are involved in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway to study the difference in lycopene content in fruits of both the genotypes. The expression of Phytoene synthase (PSY) increased by 36-fold and Phytoene desaturase (PDS) increased by 14-fold from immature green stage to ripe stage in IIHR-249-1. The expression of Chloroplast lycopene β-cyclase (LCY-B) and Chromoplast lycopene β cyclase (CYC-B) decreased gradually from the initial stage to the ripe stage in IIHR-249-1. IIHR 249-1 showed 3- and 1.8-fold decrease in gene expression for Chloroplast lycopene β-cyclase (LCY-B) and Chromoplast lycopene β-cyclase (CYC-B) .The F2 hybrids derived from IIHR-249-1 and IIHR-2866 were analysed at the ripe stage for lycopene content. The gene expression of Chloroplast lycopene β-cyclase (LCY-B) and Chromoplast lycopene β-cyclase (CYC-B) in high and low lycopene lines from F2 progenies also showed the decrease in transcript levels of both the genes in high lycopene F2 lines. We wish to suggest that the differential expression of lycopene β-cyclases can be used in marker-assisted breeding.

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Abbreviations

CYC-B :

Chromoplast lycopene β-cyclase

LCY-B :

Chloroplast lycopene β-cyclase

PSY :

phytoene synthase

PDS :

Phytoene desaturase

ZDS :

ζ-carotene desaturase

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank Department of Biotechnology for the financial support through the project ‘Metabolomics in tomato with special reference to fruit quality’.

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Correspondence to Kundapura V Ravishankar.

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Corresponding editor: Man Mohan Johri

[Pandurangaiah S, Ravishankar KV, Shivashankar KS, Sadashiva AT, Pillakenchappa K and Narayanan SK 2016 Differential expression of carotenoid biosynthetic pathway genes in two contrasting tomato genotypes for lycopene content. J. Biosci.] DOI 10.1007/s12038-016-9602-4

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Pandurangaiah, S., Ravishankar, K.V., Shivashankar, K.S. et al. Differential expression of carotenoid biosynthetic pathway genes in two contrasting tomato genotypes for lycopene content. J Biosci 41, 257–264 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-016-9602-4

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