Engineering Flax with the GT Family 1 Solanum sogarandinum Glycosyltransferase SsGT1 Confers Increased Resistance to Fusarium Infection

Abstract

The aim of this study was to engineer a flax with increased resistance to pathogens. The approach was based on the recent analysis of the Solanum sogarandinum -derived glycosyltransferase (UGT) protein, designated SsGT1 (previously called 5UGT). On the basis of enzyme studies, the recombinant SsGT1 is a 7-O-glycosyltransferase, the natural substrates of which include both anthocyanidins and flavonols such as kaempferol and quercetin. Because flavonoids act as antioxidants and glycosylation increases the stability of flavonoids, it has been suggested that the accumulation of a higher quantity of flavonoid glycosides in transgenic plants might improve their resistance to pathogen infection. Flax overproducing SsGT1 showed higher resistance to Fusarium infection than wild-type plants, and this was correlated with a significant increase in the flavonoid glycoside content in the transgenic plants. Overproduction of glycosyltransferase in transgenic flax also resulted in proanthocyanin, lignan, phenolic acid, and unsaturated fatty acid accumulation in the seeds. The last is meaningful from a biotechnological point of view and might suggest the involvement of polyphenol glycosides in the protection of unsaturated fatty acids against oxidation and thus improve oil storage. It is thus suggested that introduction of SsGT1 is sufficient for engineering altered pathogen resistance in flax.

Polyphenol content in cold-pressed cakes of conventional and genetically modified flax as factor affecting stability of the product in different laboratory storage conditions

“…The smallest TVC and mould counts found in our study in W92 cake with the highest SDG content may suggest implication of polyphenols. The increased resistance of the GM flax to some fungal pathogens was reported by Lorenc-Kukuła et al (2009).…”

“…The simultaneous overexpression of three cDNAs, derived from Petunia hybrida, coding for flavonoid biosynthesis pathway enzymes (W92 line) or the overexpression of glycosyltransferase from Solanum sogarandinum (GT line) result in a higher expression of polyphenols and their glycosides and an improved antioxidant capacity and accumulation of UFAs in the seeds (Lorenc-Kukuła et al, 2009;Żuk et al, 2011).…”

“…The microbial stability of flaxseeds could be increased by the overexpression of polyphenols. This was achieved in genetically modified (GM) flax, W92 and GT, which inhibited the growth of some plant fungal pathogens (Lorenc-Kukuła et al, 2009).…”

Flax Engineering for Biomedical Application

“…It is known that the glycosylation of low molecular weight compounds such as flavonoids makes the molecules more stable, increases their solubility in the vacuole, and can enhance the pathogen resistance of plants. Flax plants overexpressing SsGT1 accumulated higher levels of glucosylated flavonoids in the seeds, mainly the kaempferol and quercetin glycoside (Lorenc-Kukuła et al, 2009). Overproduction of SsGT1 in transgenic flax (named UGT plants) also resulted in proanthocyanin, phenolic acid and unsaturated fatty acid accumulation in the seeds.…”

“…Table 3. Variation in oil lipid composition of the different flax cultivars (Łukaszewicz et al, 2004;Lorenc-Kukuła et al,2004;Lorenc-Kukuła et al, 2009) There are many groups of compounds that can be partially responsible for flax bandage anti-inflammatory action, for example the previously mentioned groups of antioxidants, directly regulating the oxidation processes connected to inflammation. Among the different types of molecules, we chose the terpenophenols for further investigation, as some very interesting ones have recently been found in flax extracts.…”