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Compositional and transcriptional analyses of reduced zein kernels derived from the opaque2 mutation and RNAi suppression

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Abstract

Corn protein is largely made up of a group of nutritionally limited storage proteins known as zein. The reduction of zein can be achieved by a transcriptional mutation, opaque2 (o2), or a transgene targeting zein through RNA interference (RNAi). Zein reduction results in an increase of more nutritionally balanced non-zein proteins, and therefore enhance the overall quality of corn protein. In this study, the composition of mature kernels and the transcriptional profile of developing kernels of these two types of zein reduced kernels were compared. Both zein reduced kernels contained higher levels of lysine and tryptophan and free amino acids were 10–20-folds more abundant than the wild-type counterpart. We also found that free lysine contributed partially to the increased lysine in o2 kernels while protein-bound lysine was mainly responsible for the increased lysine in transgenic zein reduction (TZR) kernels. Although they had relatively similar gene expression patterns in developing endosperm, o2 kernels had greater transcriptional changes than TZR kernels in general. A number of transcripts that were specifically down-regulated in o2 were identified. Many promoter sequences of these transcripts contain putative O2 binding motifs, suggesting that their expression is directly regulated by O2.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Monsanto trait development group at Mystic for the greenhouse care, and Charles Hagen for editing the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Calgene Campus, Monsanto Company, 1920 Fifth Street, Davis, CA, 95616, USA

    Alessandra Frizzi & Shihshieh Huang

  2. Creve Coeur Campus, Monsanto Company, 800 North Lindbergh, Creve Coeur, MO, 63167, USA

    Rico A. Caldo, James A. Morrell, Linda L. Lutfiyya & Wayne E. Brown

  3. Chesterfield Campus, Monsanto Company, 700 Chesterfield Parkway West, Chesterfield, MO, 63017, USA

    Meng Wang

  4. Mystic Research, Monsanto Company, 62 Maritime Drive, Mystic, CT, 06355, USA

    Thomas M. Malvar

Authors
  1. Alessandra Frizzi
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  2. Rico A. Caldo
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  4. Meng Wang
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  5. Linda L. Lutfiyya
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  8. Shihshieh Huang
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Correspondence to Shihshieh Huang.

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Frizzi, A., Caldo, R.A., Morrell, J.A. et al. Compositional and transcriptional analyses of reduced zein kernels derived from the opaque2 mutation and RNAi suppression. Plant Mol Biol 73, 569–585 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-010-9644-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-010-9644-1

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