Two Arabidopsis thaliana carotene desaturases, phytoene desaturase and zeta-carotene desaturase, expressed in Escherichia coli, catalyze a poly-cis pathway to yield pro-lycopene.

We have expressed in Escerichia coli the enzymes geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase and phytoene synthase, from the soil bacterium Erwinia stewartii, and the two carotene desaturases phytoene desaturase and carotene zeta-carotene desaturase from Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that pro-lycopene (7,9,7',9'-tetra-cis)-lycopene is the main end product of the plant desaturation pathway in these cells. In addition, light is required in this system. Whereas in the dark mainly zeta-carotene, the phytoene desaturase product, accumulates, illumination leads to activation of this intermediate caused by its photoisomerization. zeta-Carotene then meets the stereospecific requirements of zeta-carotene desaturase and pro-lycopene is formed. In contrast, a strain of E. coli carrying geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase, phytoene desaturase and the bacterial carotene desaturase CrtI, which mediates lycopene formation from phytoene, does not require light, nor is a poly-cis-lycopene species formed. The stereoselectivity of the plant-type desaturation pathway expressed in E. coli is the same as previously shown with chromoplast membranes. As the phytoene desaturase and zeta-carotene desaturase used originate from a system not capable of developing chromoplasts, this indicates that the poly-cis pathway of carotene desaturation may have a wider occurrence than initially believed.

Regulation of a carotenoid biosynthesis gene promoter during plant development.

Carotenoids are terpenoid pigments which are accumulated in the chloroplasts of leaves and in the chromoplasts of many flowers and fruits. Phytoene desaturase (Pds), the second dedicated enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis, is encoded in tomato by a single copy gene. A 2 kb fragment from the tomato Pds gene, comprising 1.5 kb from the promoter and 0.5 kb from the 5' non-translated region, is able to drive developmentally regulated expression of the GUS reporter gene in transgenic tomato and tobacco plants. In tomato, high levels of Pds/GUS expression are found in organs and at stages of development where chromoplasts are formed: petals, anthers and ripening fruits. Tobacco petals and fruits, which do not contain chromoplasts, show instead low levels of Pds/GUS expression. Transgenic tobacco seedlings were subjected to treatment with a range of inhibitors of carotenoid and chlorophyll biosynthesis. The results indicate that, in green tissues, carotenoid and chlorophyll levels are tightly co-regulated and that a chemically induced arrest in pigment biosynthesis results in activation of the Pds promoter. The promoter is also induced in etiolated seedlings, which contain much lower carotenoid levels than light-grown seedlings. These data suggest that in green tissues Pds gene transcription may respond to end-product regulation.

Control of leaf and chloroplast development by the Arabidopsis gene pale cress.

Leaf plastids of the Arabidopsis pale cress (pac) mutant do not develop beyond the initial stages of differentiation from proplastids or etioplasts and contain only low levels of chlorophylls and carotenoids. Early in development, the epidermis and mesophyll of pac leaves resemble those of wild-type plants. In later stages, mutant leaves have enlarged intercellular spaces, and the palisade layer of the mesophyll can no longer be distinguished. To study the molecular basis of this phenotype, we cloned PAC and determined that this gene is regulated by light and has the capacity to encode an acidic, predominantly alpha-helical protein. The PAC gene appears to be a novel component of a light-induced regulatory network that controls the development of leaves and chloroplasts.

cDNA cloning, expression during development, and genome mapping of PSY2, a second tomato gene encoding phytoene synthase.

The enzyme phytoene synthase (Psy) catalyzes the formation of phytoene, an intermediate in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. Expression of a previously described gene (PSY1) is induced by fruit ripening in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). We describe here the cloning of a partial cDNA for PSY2, a gene related to PSY1. A plasmid containing the PSY2 coding region under control of a bacterial promoter complements a Rhodobacter capsulatus phytoene synthase mutant, indicating that this gene has the capacity to encode an active enzyme. We used reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction followed by digestion with a restriction enzyme to determine that both PSY1 and PSY2 are expressed during tomato development. PSY1 transcripts predominate in seedlings and in late stages of fruit ripening, whereas PSY2 transcripts are relatively more abundant in mature leaves. Both genes are expressed under photooxidative conditions induced by treatment with the carotenoid biosynthesis inhibitor Norflurazon. We used polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphisms and alien addition lines to map PSY2 to chromosome 2. We conclude that PSY2 is a second tomato gene encoding phytoene synthase.

Regulation of carotenoid biosynthesis during tomato development.

Phytoene synthase (Psy) and phytoene desaturase (Pds) are the first dedicated enzymes of the plant carotenoid biosynthesis pathway. We report here the organ-specific and temporal expression of PDS and PSY in tomato plants. Light increases the carotenoid content of seedlings but has little effect on PDS and PSY expression. Expression of both genes is induced in seedlings of the phytoene-accumulating mutant ghost and in wild-type seedlings treated with the Pds inhibitor norflurazon. Roots, which contain the lowest levels of carotenoids in the plant, have also the lowest levels of PDS and PSY expression. In flowers, expression of both genes and carotenoid content are higher in petals and anthers than in sepals and carpels. During flower development, expression of both PDS and PSY increases more than 10-fold immediately before anthesis. During fruit development, PSY expression increases more than 20-fold, but PDS expression increases less than threefold. We concluded that PSY and PDS are differentially regulated by stress and developmental mechanisms that control carotenoid biosynthesis in leaves, flowers, and fruits. We also report that PDS maps to chromosome 3, and thus it does not correspond to the GHOST locus, which maps to chromosome 11.

A tomato gene expressed during fruit ripening encodes an enzyme of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway.

In the initial stages of carotenoid biosynthesis in plants the enzyme phytoene synthase converts two molecules of geranylgeranyl diphosphate into phytoene, the first carotenoid of the pathway. We show here that a tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) cDNA for a gene (Psy1) expressed during fruit ripening directs the in vitro synthesis of a 47-kDa protein which, upon import into isolated chloroplasts, is processed to a mature 42-kDa form. The imported protein is largely associated with membranes, but it can be easily solubilized by dilution or by treatment at high pH. A plasmid construct containing prokaryotic promoter and ribosome-binding sequences fused to the Psy1 cDNA complements the carotenoidless phenotype of a Rhodobacter capsulatus crtB mutant. We conclude that Psy1 encodes phytoene synthase and that this enzyme is a peripheral plastid membrane protein.

Molecular cloning and expression in photosynthetic bacteria of a soybean cDNA coding for phytoene desaturase, an enzyme of the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway.

Carotenoids are orange, yellow, or red photo-protective pigments present in all plastids. The first carotenoid of the pathway is phytoene, a colorless compound that is converted into colored carotenoids through a series of desaturation reactions. Genes coding for carotenoid desaturases have been cloned from microbes but not from plants. We report the cloning of a cDNA for pds1, a soybean (Glycine max) gene that, based on a complementation assay using the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus, codes for an enzyme that catalyzes the two desaturation reactions that convert phytoene into zeta-carotene, a yellow carotenoid. The 2281-base-pair cDNA clone analyzed contains an open reading frame with the capacity to code for a 572-residue protein of predicted Mr 63,851. Alignment of the deduced Pds1 peptide sequence with the sequences of fungal and bacterial carotenoid desaturases revealed conservation of several amino acid residues, including a dinucleotide-binding motif that could mediate binding to FAD. The Pds1 protein is synthesized in vitro as a precursor that, upon import into isolated chloroplasts, is processed to a smaller mature form. Hybridization of the pds1 cDNA to genomic blots indicated that this gene is a member of a low-copy-number gene family. One of these loci was genetically mapped using restriction fragment length polymorphisms between Glycine max and Glycine soja. We conclude that pds1 is a nuclear gene encoding a phytoene desaturase enzyme that, as its microbial counterparts, contains sequence motifs characteristic of flavoproteins.

Abscisic Acid Control of rbcS and cab Transcription in Tomato Leaves.

Leaves of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) plants grown in soil in which moisture was lowered from field capacity to levels approaching permanent wilting point show a 10-fold increase in abscisic acid (ABA) and a 60 to 70 percent decrease in rbcS and cab steady-state mRNA levels. As indicated by transcription run-on experiments, the effect occurs primarily at the transcriptional level. Similar water deficit had only a minor effect on ABA level and on rbcS and cab expression in leaves of sitiens, an ABA mutant of tomato. Expression of rbcL, the chloroplast gene coding for the large subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase, is not affected by water stress. Application of exogenous ABA results in decreased rbcS and cab expression in both wild-type and sitiens leaves. Analysis of the expression of individual members of the rbcS gene family indicates that under water-deficit conditions, expression derives primarily from only three of the five rbcS genes. Effects of dark adaptation and water deficit are additive for cab but not for rbcS expression. These results support the hypothesis that, at least under water-deficit conditions, ABA or a derivative thereof mediates a negative regulation of rbcS and cab transcription in tomato plants.

Carotenoid desaturases from Rhodobacter capsulatus and Neurospora crassa are structurally and functionally conserved and contain domains homologous to flavoprotein disulfide oxidoreductases.

The characteristic red color of some photosynthetic bacteria and the orange color of Neurospora conidia is due to the presence of carotenoids, photoprotective pigments synthesized by plants, algae, bacteria, and fungi. Generally, carotenoids are tetraterpenes in which absorption of visible light and photoprotection are mediated by a chain of conjugated double bonds, the chromophore, which is formed by successive desaturations of phytoene, a colorless precursor. The genes al-1 and crtI mediate the desaturation of phytoene in Neurospora crassa and Rhodobacter capsulatus, respectively. Here, we report that alignment of the primary sequence of Al-1, CrtI, and CrtD, another carotenoid desaturase, reveals conservation with amino acid residues that mediate FAD-binding and dimerization functions in Azotobacter vinelandii dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase and human glutathione reductase, two disulfide oxidoreductases. Plasmids containing the coding region of an al-1 cDNA fused to appropriate bacterial transcriptional and translational signals complement crtI mutants. Our results indicate that both structure and function of carotenoid desaturases have been conserved during evolution and suggest that these enzymes are evolutionarily related to disulfide oxidoreductases.

Carotenoid biosynthesis in photosynthetic bacteria. Genetic characterization of the Rhodobacter capsulatus CrtI protein.

Carotenoids are photoprotective pigments present in many photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic organisms. The desaturation of phytoene into phytofluene is an early step in the biosynthetic pathway that in the photosynthetic bacterium Rhodobacter capsulatus is mediated by the product of the crtI gene. Here we report the sequence of this gene and the identification of CrtI as a membrane protein of approximate Mr 60,000. Mutant strains with 5-fold lower or 10-fold higher levels of CrtI with respect to wild type have only small differences in their carotenoid content, indicating that the cellular concentration of CrtI is not a limiting factor in carotenoid biosynthesis. However, a correlation was found between the levels of CrtI and the formation of a photosynthetic antenna system.