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Constitutive expression of SlTrxF increases starch content in transgenic Arabidopsis

  • Original paper
  • Published:
Biologia Plantarum

Abstract

The plastidic thioredoxin F-type (TrxF) protein plays an important role in plant saccharide metabolism. In this study, a gene encoding the TrxF protein, named SlTrxF, was isolated from tomato. The coding region of SlTrxF was cloned into a binary vector under the control of 35S promoter and then transformed into Arabidopsis thaliana. The transgenic Arabidopsis plants exhibited increased starch accumulation compared to the wild-type (WT). Real-time quantitative PCR analysis showed that constitutive expression of SlTrxF up-regulated the expression of ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) small subunit (AtAGPase-S1 and AtAGPase-S2), AGPase large subunit (AtAGPase-L1 and AtAGPase-L2) and soluble starch synthase (AtSSS I, AtSSS II, AtSSS III and AtSSS IV) genes involved in starch biosynthesis in the transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Meanwhile, enzymatic analyses showed that the major enzymes (AGPase and SSS) involved in the starch biosynthesis exhibited higher activities in the transgenic plants compared to WT. These results suggest that SlTrxF may improve starch content of Arabidopsis by regulating the expression of the related genes and increasing the activities of the major enzymes involved in starch biosynthesis.

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Abbreviations

AGPase:

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase

Hyg:

hygromycin

ORF:

open reading frame

qPCR:

quantitative PCR

SSS:

soluble starch synthase

Trx:

thioredoxin

VC:

control vector

WT:

wild-type

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huai’an, Jiangsu, 223003, P.R. China

    F. B. Wang, X. C. Sun, X. H. Chen & Q. Zhou

  2. Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, 14642, USA

    W. L. Kong

  3. School of Landscape Architecture, Zhejiang A & F University, Lin’an, Zhejiang, 311300, China

    Y. R. Fu

Authors
  1. F. B. Wang
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  2. W. L. Kong
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  3. Y. R. Fu
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  4. X. C. Sun
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  5. X. H. Chen
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  6. Q. Zhou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to F. B. Wang.

Additional information

Acknowledgments: This research was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China (BK2013256), the National Spark Plan Project of China (2014GA69002), and the Support Project of Jiangsu Provincial Department of Agriculture (BE2012445).

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Wang, F.B., Kong, W.L., Fu, Y.R. et al. Constitutive expression of SlTrxF increases starch content in transgenic Arabidopsis . Biol Plant 61, 494–500 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-016-0675-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10535-016-0675-6

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