A manipulation of carotenoid metabolism influences biomass partitioning and fitness in tomato

[EN] Improving yield, nutritional value and tolerance to abiotic stress are major targets of current breeding and biotechnological approaches that aim at increasing crop production and ensuring food security. Metabolic engineering of carotenoids, the precursor of vitamin-A and plant hormones that re...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Mi, Jianing, Vallarino, Jose G., Petrik, Ivan, Novak, Ondrej, Correa, Sandra M., Chodasiewicz, Monika, Havaux, Michel, Al-Babili, Salim, Fernie, Alisdair R., Skirycz, Aleksandra, Moreno, Juan C., RODRIGUEZ-CONCEPCION, Manuel|||0000-0002-1280-2305
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/198244
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/198244
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Abiotic stress tolerance
Apocarotenoids
Biomass and yield
Carotenoids
Metabolic engineering
Metabolites and lipids
Phytohormones
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Improving yield, nutritional value and tolerance to abiotic stress are major targets of current breeding and biotechnological approaches that aim at increasing crop production and ensuring food security. Metabolic engineering of carotenoids, the precursor of vitamin-A and plant hormones that regulate plant growth and response to adverse growth conditions, has been mainly focusing on provitamin A biofortification or the production of high-value carotenoids. Here, we show that the introduction of a single gene of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway in different tomato cultivars induced profound metabolic alterations in carotenoid, apocarotenoid and phytohormones pathways. Alterations in isoprenoid-(abscisic acid, gibberellins, cytokinins) and non-isoprenoid (auxin and jasmonic acid) derived hormones together with enhanced xanthophyll content influenced biomass partitioning and abiotic stress tolerance (high light, salt, and drought), and it caused an up to 77% fruit yield increase and enhanced fruit's provitamin A content. In addition, metabolic and hormonal changes led to accumulation of key primary metabolites (e.g. osmoprotectants and antiaging agents) contributing with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance and fruit shelf life. Our findings pave the way for developing a new generation of crops that combine high productivity and increased nutritional value with the capability to cope with climate change related environmental challenges.