The fusion transcript of Phytoene synthase 1 controls yellow fruit in tomato

Eun Sol Kang, Je Min Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) fruit color is an important aspect of quality in terms of appearance and nutrient content. Carotenoids, chlorophyll, and flavonoids are the main components responsible for tomato fruit color. Phytoene synthase (PSY) is the key regulatory enzyme involved in the first committed step of carotenoid biosynthesis. Here, we found that the yellow fruit of S. lycopersicum ‘YF2359’, which lacks carotenoids, was regulated by a single recessive gene and cosegregated with PSY1 in the F2 population. Two different PSY1 transcripts, including the wild-type and mutant (fusion-type), were discovered in YF2359. The mutant was generated by the fusion of exons from two different DNA strands, namely, PSY1 and the antisense strand of CoA ligase, by trans-splicing. This yellow flesh phenotype, which was caused by a mutation of PSY1 and was undetected in S. lycopersicum ‘LA4044’, was predicted to nullify PSY because of amino acid substitutions in the conserved trans-isoprenyl diphosphate synthase domain. Additionally, the trans-splicing of PSY1 reduced wild-type PSY1 expression, suggesting that the metabolic flux in the carotenoid pathway was suppressed in the presence of this mutation. Carotenoid biosynthetic genes were expressed significantly less in ‘YF2359’ than in the red-fruited wild-type tomato ‘M82’. Information on this unusual mutation in PSY1 will improve the understanding of genetic variations in plants and enable novel strategies for improving fruit quality.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)705-716
Number of pages12
JournalHorticultural Science and Technology
Volume38
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020

Keywords

  • Candidate gene
  • Carotenoid
  • Fruit color
  • Molecular breeding
  • Trans-splicing

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