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Overexpression of Folate Biosynthesis Genes in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) and Evaluation of Their Impact on Seed Folate Content

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Abstract

Folate (vitamin B9) deficiency is a global health problem especially in developing countries where the major staple foods such as rice contain extremely low folates. Biofortification of rice could be an alternative complement way to fight folate deficiency. In this study, we evaluated the availability of the genes in each step of folate biosynthesis pathway for rice folate enhancement in the japonica variety kitaake genetic background. The first enzymes GTP cyclohydrolase I (GTPCHI) and aminodeoxychorismate synthase (ADCS) in the pterin and para-aminobenzoate branches resulted in significant increase in seed folate content, respectively (P < 0.01). Overexpression of two closely related enzymes dihydrofolate synthase (DHFS) and folypolyglutamate synthase (FPGS), which perform the first and further additions of glutamates, produced slightly increase in seed folate content separately. The GTPCHI transgene was combined with each of the other transgenes except ADCS to investigate the effects of gene stacking on seed folate accumulation. Seed folate contents in the gene-stacked plants were higher than the individual low-folate transgenic parents, but lower than the high-folate GTPCHI transgenic lines, pointing to an inadequate supply of para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) precursor initiated by ADCS in constraining folate overproduction in gene-stacked plants.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant no. 2007CB10880-1, 2013CB127000), and Transgenic Science and Technology Program (2013ZX08001-006)

Conflict of Interest

The authors have declared that there were no competing interests.

The manuscript does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Key Facility for Crop Gene Resources and Genetic Improvement/Institute of Crop Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100081, China

    Wei Dong, Zhi-jun Cheng, Cai-lin Lei, Xiao-le Wang, Jiu-lin Wang, Jie Wang, Fu-qing Wu, Xin Zhang, Xiu-ping Guo, Hu-qu Zhai & Jian-min Wan

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  1. Wei Dong
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  2. Zhi-jun Cheng
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  3. Cai-lin Lei
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  7. Fu-qing Wu
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  8. Xin Zhang
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Correspondence to Jian-min Wan.

Additional information

Wei Dong, Zhi-jun Cheng and Cai-lin Lei contributed equally to this work.

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Dong, W., Cheng, Zj., Lei, Cl. et al. Overexpression of Folate Biosynthesis Genes in Rice (Oryza sativa L.) and Evaluation of Their Impact on Seed Folate Content. Plant Foods Hum Nutr 69, 379–385 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-014-0450-9

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