ABSTRACT
The delta-12 fatty acid desaturase (Δ¹² FAD or FAD2) is a key enzyme that catalyzes oleic acid to linoleic acid by dehydrogenation at Δ¹² position of fatty acid carbon chain. In peanut, reduction or loss of FAD2 activity could enhance the relative content of oleic acid in kernels, and improve the quality and oxidation stability of peanut kernels and products. RNA interference (RNAi) technology could lead to non-expression or down-regulated expression of AhFAD2 gene. We constructed two RNA interference expression vectors with the inverted repeat sequence of partial AhFAD2 gene, which were driven separately by cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter or soybean agglutinin lectin seed-specific promoter. Homozygous transgenic lines carrying the two constructs stably in genetics were developed by peanut genetic transformation. There were no significant differences between the transgenic lines and the control through investigating the main agronomic traits. We analyzed the transcriptional level expression of AhFAD2 gene in transgenic lines and the control by real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). The results suggested that the target genes of transgenic lines were likely suppressed by RNA interference, but showed different transcriptional levels in different peanut transgenic lines. Compared with untransformed lines, the resulting down-regulation of AhFAD2 gene resulted in a 15.09% or 36.40% increase in oleic acid content in the seeds of transformed HY23 and FH1 lines respectively, and the content of linoleic acid decreased by 16.19% or 29.81%, correspondingly, the ratio of oleic acid and linoleic acid (O/L) improved by 38.02%, 98.10%. The oleic acid content had significant differences between the two transformation constructs, and also among different transgenic lines. Moreover, the inhibition effect of RNAi was more obvious in the transgenic lines with FH1 as the receptor, and with transformation structure driven by seed specific promoter. The suppressed expression of AhFAD2 gene enabled the development of peanut fatty acid, which indicated that RNA interference would be a reliable technique for the genetic modification of peanut seed quality and the potential for improvement of other traits as well.
ABSTRACT
Maize is one of the most important food crops. Rice black-streaked dwarf virus is a maize rough dwarf disease pathogen. The occurrence and transmission of maize rough dwarf disease brings great damage to maize production. The technology of using artificial miRNA to build antiviral plant has been proven effective in a variety of plants. However, such trials in maize have not been reported. We designed primers based on the sequence of maize zea-miR159a precursor and sequence of function protein genes and silencing RBSDV coding genes in RBSDV genome. We constructed amiRNA (artificial miRNA) gene for silencing RBSDV coding gene and gene silencing suppressor. We constructed pCAMBIA3301-121-amiRNA plant expression vector for transforming maize inbred lines Z31 by using agrobacterium mediated method. After molecular analysis of transgenic maize, homozygous lines with high miRNA expression were selected by molecular detection for a subsequent natural infection experiment. We studied the severity of maize rough dwarf disease according to a grading standard (grade 0 to 4). The experiment results showed that the disease resistance of transgenic homozygous maize with the anti-rough dwarf virus amiRNA vector was better than that of wild type. Among the transgenic maize, S6-miR159 transgenic maize had high disease resistance. It is feasible to create new maize variety by the use of artificial miRNA.
Subject(s)
Disease Resistance , Genetics , Gene Silencing , Genetic Vectors , MicroRNAs , Genetics , Plant Diseases , Genetics , Virology , Plants, Genetically Modified , Genetics , Reoviridae , Virulence , Zea mays , GeneticsABSTRACT
Resveratrol is a naturally occurring stilbene, a kind of polyphenolic compounds, found in a limited number of plant species such as grape, peanut, and pine. It has been considered as a phytoalexin in plants, and many studies have also shown its health benefits such as antioxidant activities, cancer prevention, blood thinning, and life span extension. This paper reviews the characteristics of resveratrol in aspects of synthesis, extraction, purification, and determination. In particular, the new outcomes of physiology function and the transgenic approaches have been presented. The challenges and chances for genetic engineering and health-related industries were also discussed.