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Inhibition of the expression of the starch synthase II gene leads to lower pasting temperature in sweetpotato starch

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Abstract

The sweetpotato cultivar Quick Sweet (QS) with a lower pasting temperature of starch is a unique breeding material, but the biochemical background of this property has been unknown. To assess the physiological impact of the reduced isoform II activity of starch synthase (SSII) on the starch properties in sweetpotato storage root, transgenic sweetpotato plants with reduced expressions of the SSII gene were generated and evaluated. All of the starches from transgenic plants showed lower pasting temperatures and breakdown measured by a Rapid Visco Analyzer. The pasting temperatures in transgenic plants were approximately 10–15°C lower than in wild-type plants. Distribution of the amylopectin chain length of the transgenic lines showed marked differences compared to that in wild-type plants: more chains with degree of polymerization (DP) 6–11 and fewer chains with DP 13–25. The starch granules from the storage root of transgenic plants showed cracking on the hilum, while those from wild-type plants appeared to be typical sweetpotato starch. In accordance with these observations, the expression of SSII in the storage roots of the sweetpotato cultivar with low pasting temperature starch (QS) was notably lower than in cultivars with normal starch. Moreover, nucleotide sequence analysis suggested that most of the SSII transcripts in the cultivar with low pasting temperature starch were inactive alleles. These results clearly indicate that the activity of SSII in sweetpotato storage roots, like those in other plants, affects the pasting properties of starch through alteration of the amylopectin structure.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Kazufumi Yazaki at Kyoto University for kindly providing the hygromycin resistant gene. We also thank the staff members in the field and greenhouse management section 3 of KONARC for managing the plant materials, and Rieko Gonbori and Masako Yoshigaki, KONARC, for their laboratory work. This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (Rural Bio-Mass Research Project, BCD-A1322, Bio-recycle Research Project, 1612).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Agricultural Research Center for Kyushu Okinawa Region (KONARC), National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), 6651-2 Yokoichi, Miyakonojo, Miyazaki, 885-0091, Japan

    Yasuhiro Takahata, Masaru Tanaka, Kenji Katayama, Hiroki Nakayama & Masaru Yoshinaga

  2. Research Institute for Bioresources and Biotechnology, Ishikawa Prefectural University, Nonoichi, Ishikawa, 921-8836, Japan

    Motoyasu Otani & Osamu Nakayachi

  3. Faculty of Agriculture, Kagoshima University, 1-21-24 Korimoto, Kagoshima, 890-0065, Japan

    Kanefumi Kitahara

Authors
  1. Yasuhiro Takahata
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  2. Masaru Tanaka
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  3. Motoyasu Otani
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  4. Kenji Katayama
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  5. Kanefumi Kitahara
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  6. Osamu Nakayachi
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  7. Hiroki Nakayama
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  8. Masaru Yoshinaga
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Correspondence to Yasuhiro Takahata.

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Communicated by H. Ebinuma.

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Takahata, Y., Tanaka, M., Otani, M. et al. Inhibition of the expression of the starch synthase II gene leads to lower pasting temperature in sweetpotato starch. Plant Cell Rep 29, 535–543 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-010-0842-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00299-010-0842-8

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