Abstract
Pungency in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) has unique characteristics due to the alkaloid compound group, capsaicinoids, which includes capsaicin. Although capsaicinoids have been proved to have pharmacological and physiological effects on human health, the application of capsaicinoids has been limited because of their pungency. Capsinoids found in non-pungent peppers share closely related structures with capsaicinoids and show similar biological effects. Previous studies demonstrated that mutations in the p-AMT gene were related to the production of capsinoids; however, the pathway of capsinoid synthesis has not yet been fully elucidated. In this study, we performed genetic analysis to determine the mechanism of capsinoid synthesis using a F6 recombinant inbred line population. In this population, the presence/absence of capsinoids co-segregated with the genotype of the Pun1 locus, without exception. In addition, we screened the patterns of capsinoid synthesis and the correlation between the Pun1 locus and capsinoid synthesis in p-AMT mutant accessions. In Capsicum germplasms, we selected amino-acid-substituted mutants in the PLP binding domain of the p-AMT gene. Capsinoids were not synthesized with the recessive pun1 gene, regardless of the p-AMT genotype, and no relationship was found between p-AMT mutant type and capsinoid content. We concluded that the Pun1 gene, which is responsible for capsaicinoid synthesis, also controls capsinoid synthesis.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aluru MR, Mazourek M, Landry LG, Curry J, Jahn M, O’Connell M (2003) Differential expression of fatty acid synthase genes, Acl, Fat and Kas, in Capsicum fruit. J Exp Bot 54:1655–1664
Ben-Chaim A, Borovsky Y, Falise M, Mazourek M, Kang BC, Paran I, Jahn M (2006) QTL analysis for capsaicinoid content in Capsicum. Theor Appl Genet 113:1481–1490
Blum E, Liu K, Mazourek M, Yoo EY, Jahn M, Paran I (2002) Molecular mapping of C locus for presence of pungency in Capsicum. Genome 45:702–705
Blum E, Mazourek M, O’Connell M, Curry J, Thorup T, Liu K, Jahn M, Paran I (2003) Molecular mapping of capsaicinoid biosynthesis genes and quantitative trait loci analysis for capsaicinoid content in Capsicum. Theor Appl Genet 108:79–86
Caterina MJ, Schumacher MA, Tominaga M, Rosen TA, Levine JD, Julius D (1997) The capsaicin receptor: a heat-activated ion channel in the pain pathway. Nature 389:816–824
Deshpande RB (1935) Studies in Indian chillies: 4. Inheritance of pungency in Capsicum annuum L. Indian J Agric Sci 5:513–516
Govindarajan VS (1985) Capsicum production, technology, chemistry, and quality. 1. History, botany, cultivation, and primary processing. CRC Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 22:109–176
Iida T, Moriyama T, Kobata K, Morita A, Murayama N, Hashizume S, Fushiki T, Yazawa S, Watanabe T, Tominaga M (2003) TRPV1 activation and induction of nociceptive response by a non-pungent capsaicin-like compound, capsiate. Neuropharmacology 44:958–967
Jeong HJ, Jo YD, Park SW, Kang BC (2010) Identification of Capsicum species using SNP markers based on high resolution melting analysis. Genome 53:1029–1040
Kim MK, Kim SJ, Kim SH, Kim BD (2001) Isolation of cDNA clones differentially accumulated in placenta of pungent pepper by suppression subtractive hybridization. Mol Cell 11:213–219
Kim JS, Park M, Lee DJ, Kim BD (2009) Characterization of putative capsaicin synthase promoter activity. Mol Cell 28:331–339
Kobata K, Todo T, Yazawa S, Iwai K, Watanabe T (1998) Novel capsaicinoid-like substances, capsiate and dihydrocapsiate, from the fruits of a nonpungent cultivar, CH-19 Sweet, of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.). J Agric Food Chem 46:1695–1697
Kobata K, Sutoh K, Todo T, Yazawa S, Iwai K, Watanabe T (1999) Nordihydrocapsiate, a new capsinoid from the fruits of a nonpungent pepper Capsicum annuum. J Nat Prod 62:335–336
Lang Y, Kisaka H, Sugiyama R, Nomura K, Morita A, Watanabe T, Tanaka Y, Yazawa T, Miwa T (2009) Functional loss of p-AMT results in biosynthesis of capsinoids, capsaicinoid analogs, in Capsicum annuum cv. CH-19 Sweet. Plant J 59:953–961
Lee CJ, Yoo EY, Shin JH, Lee JM, Hwang HS, Kim BD (2005) Non-pungent Capsicum contains a deletion in the capsaicinoid synthetase gene, which allows early detection of pungency with SCAR markers. Mol Cell 12:262–267
Mazourek M, Pujar A, Borovsky Y, Paran I, Mueller L, Jahn MM (2008) A dynamic interface for capsaicinoid systems biology. Plant Physiol 150:1806–1821
Min JK, Han KY, Kim EC, Kim YM, Lee SW, Kim OK, Kim KW, Gho YS, Kwon YG (2004) Capsaicin inhibits in vitro and in vivo angiogenesis. Cancer Res 64:644–651
Nelson EK, Dawson LE (1923) The constitution of capsaicin-the pungent principal of Capsicum III. J Am Chem Soc 45:2179
Ohnuki K, Haramizu S, Oki K, Watanabe T, Yazawa S, Fushiki T (2001) Administration of capsiate, a non-pungent capsaicin analog, promotes energy metabolism and suppresses body fat accumulation in mice. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 65:2735–2740
Park SW, An SJ, Yang HB, Kwon JK, Kang BC (2009) Optimization of high resolution melting analysis and discovery of single nucleotide polymorphism in Capsicum. Hort Environ Biotechnol 50:31–39
Perkins B, Bushway R, Guthrie K, Fan T, Stewart B, Prince A, Williams M (2002) Determination of capsaicinoids in salsa by liquid chromatography and enzyme immunoassay. J AOAC Int 85:82–85
Stellari GM, Mazourek M, Jahn MM (2010) Contrasting modes for loss of pungency between cultivated and wild species of Capsicum. Heredity 104:460–471
Stewart CJ, Kang BC, Liu K, Mazourek M, Moore SL, Yoo EY, Kim BD, Paran I, Jahn MM (2005) The Pun1 gene for pungency in pepper encodes a putative acyltransferase. Plant J 42:675–688
Stewart CJ, Mazourek M, Stellari GM, O’Connell M, Jahn MM (2007) Genetic control of pungency in C. chinense via the Pun1 locus. J Exp Bot 58:979–991
Sugita T, Kinoshita T, Kawano T, Yuji K, Yamaguchi K, Nagata R, Shimizu A, Chen L, Kawasaki S, Todoroki A (2005) Rapid construction of a linkage map using high-efficiency genome scanning/AFLP and RAPD, based on an intraspecific, doubled-haploid population of Capsicum annuum. Breed Sci 55:287–295
Sung JH (2007) Genetic analysis of capsinoid in Capsicum annuum. MS Thesis. Seoul National University
Surh YJ, Chun KS, Cha HH, Han SS, Keum YS, Park KK, Lee SS (2001) Molecular mechanisms underlying chemopreventive activities of anti-inflammatory phytochemicals: down-regulation of COX-2 and iNOS through suppression of NF-κB activation. Mutat Res 480–481
Sutoh K, Kobata K, Watanabe T (2001) Stability of capsinoid in various solvents. J Agric Food Chem 49:4026–4030
Sutoh K, Kobata K, Yazawa S, Watanabe T (2006) Capsinoid is biosynthesized from phenylalanine and valine in a non-pungent pepper, Capsicum annuum L. cv. CH-19 sweet. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 70:1513–1516
Tanaka Y, Hosokawa M, Miwa T, Watanabe T, Yazawa S (2010a) Newly mutated putative-aminotransferase in nonpungent pepper (Capsicum annuum) results in biosynthesis of capsinoids, capsaicinoid analogues. J Agric Food Chem 58:1761–1767
Tanaka Y, Hosokawa M, Miwa T, Watanabe T, Yazawa S (2010b) Novel loss-of-function putative aminotransferase alleles cause biosynthesis of capsinoids, nonpungent capsaicinoid analogues, in mildly pungent chili peppers (Capsicum chinense). J Agric Food Chem 58:11762–11767
Tanksley SD, Bernatzky R, Lapitan NL, Prince JP (1988) Conservation of gene repertoire but not gene order in pepper and tomato. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:6419–6423
Yazawa S, Suetome N, Okamoto K, Namiki T (1989) Content of capsaicinoids and capsaicinoid-like substances in fruit of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) hybrids made with ‘CH-19 Sweet’ as a parent. J Jpn Soc Hort Sci 58:601–607
Yi GB, Lee JM, Lee SH, Choi DI, Kim BD (2006) Exploitation of pepper EST-SSRs and an SSR-based linkage map. Theor Appl Genet 114:113–130
Acknowledgments
This research was supported by a grant (Project No. 710001-03) from the Vegetable Breeding Research Center through R&D Convergence Center Support Program, Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, and by a grant from the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program (Plant Molecular Breeding Center No. PJ00818701), Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Koeun Han, Hee-Jin Jeong, Joo Hee Sung contributed equally to this work.
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Han, K., Jeong, HJ., Sung, J. et al. Biosynthesis of capsinoid is controlled by the Pun1 locus in pepper. Mol Breeding 31, 537–548 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-012-9811-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11032-012-9811-y