Biologia plantarum 2012, 56:131-134 | DOI: 10.1007/s10535-012-0028-z

Expression of γ-tocopherol methyltransferase gene from Brassica napus increased α-tocopherol content in soybean seed

D. F. Chen1, M. Zhang1, Y. Q. Wang1, X. W. Chen1,*
1 Laboratory of Molecular Genetics, College of Life Sciences, Nankai University, Tianjin, P.R. China

A cDNA encoding γ-tocopherol methyltransferase from Brassica napus (BnTMT) was overexpressed in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] under the control of seed-specific promoter of Arabidopsis fatty acid elongase 1 (FAE1) or soybean glycinin G1. Two and three transgenic plants were selected, respectively, after Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blots confirmed that BnTMT was single-copy integrated into the genome of transgenic plants. RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of BnTMT was higher in the immature cotyledons than in the mature cotyledons, while no expression was detected in the leaves. Moreover, the expression level under the control of FAE1 was higher than that of G1. HPLC analysis indicated that the seed-specific expression of BnTMT resulted in 11.1-fold and 18.9-fold increase in α- and β-tocopherol content, respectively, in T2 seed. These results suggested that introducing BnTMT into soybean can be used to increase the vitamin E composition in seeds.

Keywords: fatty acid elongase 1; Glycine max; glycinin; RT-PCR; Southern blot; transgenic plants
Subjects: fatty acid elongase 1; glycinin; Southern blot; transgenic plants; tocopherol; tocopherol methyltransferase; PCR; gene construct; gene expression
Species: Brassica napus; Glycine max

Received: April 2, 2010; Accepted: September 7, 2010; Published: March 1, 2012Show citation

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Chen, D.F., Zhang, M., Wang, Y.Q., & Chen, X.W. (2012). Expression of γ-tocopherol methyltransferase gene from Brassica napus increased α-tocopherol content in soybean seed. Biologia plantarum, 56(1), 131-134. doi: 10.1007/s10535-012-0028-z.
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