Abstract
The over-expression of Arabidopsis CAX1 and CAX2 causes transgenic tomato plants to reveal severe Ca2+ deficiency-like symptoms such as tip-burn and/or blossom end rot, despite there being sufficient Ca2+ in each plant part. To correct the symptoms and to moderately enhance the calcium level, a worldwide vegetable tomato was genetically engineered using a modified Arabidopsis cation/H+ antiporter sCAX2A, a mutant form of Arabidopsis CAX2. Compared with the wild-type, the sCAX2A-expressing tomato plants demonstrated elevated Ca2+ levels in the fruits with almost no changes in the levels of Mn2+, Cu2+, and Fe2+. Moreover, expression of sCAX2A in tomato plants did not show any significant alterations in their morphological phenotypes. Unlike 35S::sCAX1 construct, sCAX2A antiporter gene driven by 35S promoter can be a valuable tool for enriching Ca2+ contents in the tomato fruit without additional accumulation of the undesirable cations.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 15-21 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Plant Biotechnology Reports |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2010 |
Keywords
- Blossom-end rot
- Ca nutrition
- Cation/H antiporter
- Genetic transformation
- Solanum lycopersicum
- Tip-burn