title: RNA interference (RNAI) as a tool to engineer high nutritional value in chicory (Chicorium intybus).
abstract: The major component of chicory (Chicorium intybus) root is inulin, which is a polymer of fructose. Inulin production from chicory is hampered by the enzyme fructan 1-exohydrolase (1-FEH) that degrades inulin and limits its yield. Increased FEH activity results in massive breakdown of fructan and production of Fructose and inulo-n-oses. The latter phenomena are to be avoided for industrial fructan production. RNA silencing, which is termed post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) in plants, is an RNA degradation process through sequence specific nucleotide interactions induced by double-stranded RNA. For genetic improvement of crop plants, RNAi has advantages over antisense-mediated gene silencing and co-suppression, in terms of its efficiency and stability. We are generating a transgenic chicory plants with suppressed FEH (exohydrolas) genes using RNAi resulting in supressed inulin degradation. A small but important part of the construct is a sequence unique for the target gene (exons) or genes,which were cloned. The hairpin constructs were made and chicory was transformed by Agrobacterium tumifaciense, strain (C58C1). The transgenics should be select and check by means of molecular techniques.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Agricultural and Applied Biological Sciences, Ghent University Coupure Links 653, BE-9000 Gent, Belgium. Asad.Maroufi@ugent.be
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asad
mesh_terms: D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D018651:Cichorium intybus / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic / Q000502:physiology; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000502:physiology; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism*; D007328:Insulin / Q000378:metabolism*; D009753:Nutritive Value; D018517:Plant Roots / Q000378:metabolism; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D006026:Glycoside Hydrolases; C044118:fructan beta-fructosidase