Overexpression of the acyl-lipid Δ12-desaturase gene protects potato plants from low temperature damage

Abstract

The responses of plant leaves to chilling were studied in potato (Solanum tuberosum L., cv. Desnitsa) and in its transformants with the native desA gene that encodes the acyl-lipid Δ12-desaturase from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 and with the hybrid desA gene fused to the reporter gene of thermostable lichenase (licBM3) from Clostridium thermocellum. Cold stress caused a rapid and significant increase in superoxide production and lipid peroxidation (the content of conjugated dienes and malonic dialdehyde) in wild-type plants. By contrast no significant increase was detected in transformed plants under cold stress conditions. This can be attributed to the fact that the overexpression of the acyl-lipid Δ12-desaturase in transformed potato plants promotes fatty acid polyunsaturation and presumably averts the accelerated generation of the superoxide anion, thus suppressing lipid peroxidation under low-temperature stress

Changes in Fatty Acid Composition and Lipid Content Occurring in Potato Leaves during Cold Hardening: the Role of ∆12-Acyl-Lipid Desaturase

“…The presence and expression of the introduced desA gene in desA-licBM3 plants were confirmed by PCR, including RT-PCR, i.e., by the matrix RNA formation [12].…”

“…Desnitsa), taken as a typical representative of chillingtolerant plants, and the line three of potato plants transformed with a vector carrying desA gene of acyllipid desaturase from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, which membranes, according to the earlier obtained data, were enriched with PUFA-containing lipids [9,12]. In the above-mentioned construction, the sequence of a desaturase gene was translationally fused with the sequence of a reporter gene licBM3 encoding thermostable lichenase (desA-licBM3 plants).…”