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Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 4 (CCD4) cleaves β-carotene and interacts with IbOr in sweetpotato

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Abstract

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas [L.] Lam) is one of the most important food crops, as it ensures food and nutrition security in the face of climate change, given its high carbohydrate, antioxidant (carotenoid), dietary fiber, and mineral contents. The Orange protein of sweetpotato (IbOr) shows high molecular chaperone activity. Previously, we showed that transgenic sweetpotato plants overexpressing the IbOr gene exhibited strong tolerance to abiotic stresses such as high temperature (47 °C) and drought, owing to the increased contents of carotenoids including β-carotene. Interestingly, the expression of the sweetpotato carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 4 (IbCCD4) gene was also significantly up-regulated in IbOr-overexpressing sweetpotato plants. In this study, we confirmed that the IbCCD4 gene is highly expressed in carotenoid-rich leaves and storage roots of three types of sweetpotato cultivars, each with a different storage root color (pale yellow, orange, and purple). The IbCCD4 protein showed interaction with IbOr in yeast two-hybrid and pull-down assays. Additionally, in vitro, carotenoid cleavage assays indicated that β-carotene is the major substrate of IbCCD4. Interestingly, the interaction between IbCCD4 and IbOr did not affect β-carotene degradation. Further characterization of the IbCCD4 gene in transgenic sweetpotato plants will provide new insights into carotenoid homeostasis under severe stress conditions.

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Abbreviations

CCD:

Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase

IbOr:

Sweetpotato orange

PsbP:

Oxygen-evolving enhancer protein 2-1

PSY:

Phytoene synthase

qRT-PCR:

Quantitative real-time PCR

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Systems & Synthetic Agrobiotech Center (PJ01318401 and PJ01318402), the Biogreen 21 Project for the Next Generation, the Rural Development Administration, Korea, the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (2020R1A2C1004560), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31901588) and the KRIBB initiative program.

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Author notes

  1. Sung-Chul Park and Le Kang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Systems Engineering Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), 125 Gwahak-ro, Daejeon, 34141, Korea

    Sung-Chul Park, Sang-Soo Kwak & Ho Soo Kim

  2. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637002, Sichuan, China

    Le Kang

  3. College of Pharmacy and Research Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Gyeongsang National University, 501 Jinjudae-ro, Jinju, 52828, Korea

    Woo Sung Park & Mi-Jeong Ahn

  4. Current Address: Biological Resource Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB), Jeongeup, 56212, Korea

    Sung-Chul Park

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  1. Sung-Chul Park
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  2. Le Kang
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Correspondence to Sang-Soo Kwak or Ho Soo Kim.

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Park, SC., Kang, L., Park, W.S. et al. Carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 4 (CCD4) cleaves β-carotene and interacts with IbOr in sweetpotato. Plant Biotechnol Rep 14, 737–742 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-020-00649-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11816-020-00649-y

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