title: Suppression of the vacuolar invertase gene prevents cold-induced sweetening in potato.
abstract: Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is the third most important food crop in the world. Potato tubers must be stored at cold temperatures to prevent sprouting, minimize disease losses, and supply consumers and the processing industry with high-quality tubers throughout the year. Unfortunately, cold storage triggers an accumulation of reducing sugars in tubers. High-temperature processing of these tubers results in dark-colored, bitter-tasting products. Such products also have elevated amounts of acrylamide, a neurotoxin and potential carcinogen. We demonstrate that silencing the potato vacuolar acid invertase gene VInv prevents reducing sugar accumulation in cold-stored tubers. Potato chips processed from VInv silencing lines showed a 15-fold acrylamide reduction and were light in color even when tubers were stored at 4°C. Comparable, low levels of VInv gene expression were observed in cold-stored tubers from wild potato germplasm stocks that are resistant to cold-induced sweetening. Thus, both processing quality and acrylamide problems in potato can be controlled effectively by suppression of the VInv gene through biotechnology or targeted breeding.
authors.affiliation: Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
authors.forename: Pudota B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Bhaskar
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Busse
authors.forename: Brett R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Whitty
authors.forename: Andy J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Hamernik
authors.forename: Shelley H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Jansky
authors.forename: C Robin
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Buell
authors.forename: Paul C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Bethke
authors.forename: Jiming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D020106:Acrylamide / Q000032:analysis; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005511:Food Handling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D017343:Genes, Plant; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D035281:Plant Tubers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics; D034622:RNA Interference; D011198:Solanum tuberosum / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000378:metabolism; D043324:beta-Fructofuranosidase / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002241:Carbohydrates; D010940:Plant Proteins; D020106:Acrylamide; D043324:beta-Fructofuranosidase