Dually biofortified cisgenic tomatoes with increased flavonoids and branched-chain amino acids content.
Marta Vazquez-VilarAsun Fernandez-Del-CarmenVictor Garcia-CarpinteroMargit DrapalSilvia PresaDorotea RicciGianfranco DirettoJosé Luis RamblaRafael Fernandez-MuñozAna Espinosa-RuizPaul David FraserCathie MartinAntonio GranellDiego OrzaezPublished in: Plant biotechnology journal (2023)
Higher dietary intakes of flavonoids may have a beneficial role in cardiovascular disease prevention. Additionally, supplementation of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) in vegan diets can reduce risks associated to their deficiency, particularly in older adults, which can cause loss of skeletal muscle strength and mass. Most plant-derived foods contain only small amounts of BCAAs, and those plants with high levels of flavonoids are not eaten broadly. Here we describe the generation of metabolically engineered cisgenic tomatoes enriched in both flavonoids and BCAAs. In this approach, coding and regulatory DNA elements, all derived from the tomato genome, were combined to obtain a herbicide-resistant version of an acetolactate synthase (mSlALS) gene expressed broadly and a MYB12-like transcription factor (SlMYB12) expressed in a fruit-specific manner. The mSlALS played a dual role, as a selectable marker as well as being key enzyme in BCAA enrichment. The resulting cisgenic tomatoes were highly enriched in Leucine (21-fold compared to wild-type levels), Valine (ninefold) and Isoleucine (threefold) and concomitantly biofortified in several antioxidant flavonoids including kaempferol (64-fold) and quercetin (45-fold). Comprehensive metabolomic and transcriptomic analysis of the biofortified cisgenic tomatoes revealed marked differences to wild type and could serve to evaluate the safety of these biofortified fruits for human consumption.
Keyphrases
- wild type
- transcription factor
- amino acid
- cardiovascular disease
- endothelial cells
- single cell
- genome wide
- physical activity
- oxidative stress
- coronary artery disease
- weight loss
- metabolic syndrome
- single molecule
- copy number
- dna binding
- gene expression
- circulating tumor
- cardiovascular risk factors
- psychometric properties
- pluripotent stem cells