Team:Harvard/color

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<p>One of the most interesting properties of plants is their immense metabolic capability. Some of the most important metabolites of plants are pigments which aid in photosynthesis, many of which infer color upon the plant tissue. In this sub-project, we aim to alter the color of arabidopsis flowers by adjusting the carotenoid metabolic pathway via artificial microRNA interference.</p>
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<p>One of the most interesting properties of plants is their immense metabolic capability. Some of the most important metabolites of plants are pigments which aid in photosynthesis, many of which confer color upon the plant tissue. In this sub-project, we aim to alter the color of <i>Arabidopsis</i> flowers via accumulation of such pigments.</p>
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<p>Our target compounds are are lycopene, a red, linear pigment, and beta-carotene, and orange, cyclical derivative of lycopene. Both are elements of the carotenoid metabolic pathway, and are used as precursors for lutein and xanthophyll pigments. We aim to accumulate these compounds by using RNA interference to knock down enzymes catalyzing the steps in the metabolic pathway that use use pigments as precursors. We have targeted three enzymes for knockdown, lycopene epsilon cyclase (LUT2), carotene beta-ring hydroxylase (BETA-OHASE 1), and lycopene beta cyclase (LYC). We will also try to restrict knockdown to the petal by expressing these enzymes under a petal-specific promoter.</p>
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<p>Our target pigments are two elements of the carotenoid metabolic pathway -- <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopene">lycopene (red)</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betacarotene">beta-carotene (orange)</a>. We aim to accumulate these compounds by using RNA interference to knock down enzymes catalyzing the steps in the metabolic pathway that use use pigments as precursors. We have targeted three enzymes for knockdown, and will express these knockdown constructs using a petal specific promoter to localize pigment accumulation</p>
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<p>We plan to incorporate color modification into the iGarden both as an interesting feature and as an indication of genetic modification. Eventually, we hope to develop a system in by which we can confer different colors upon plants containing different constructs, providing unique visual markers for those plants that express different traits such as allergen knockdown or flavor production.</p><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/f/ff/Teamcolor.png" width="600px" />
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<p>The vision for this sub-project is to not only produce an interesting feature, but also to develop a system in which we can color-code our constructs and provide unique visual markers for plants that express differing traits that cannot be detected visually. In addition, as many carotenoids are also important micronutrients, we may be able to use this mechanism to improve the nutritional content of target plants.</p>
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Latest revision as of 00:31, 27 October 2010



abstract

One of the most interesting properties of plants is their immense metabolic capability. Some of the most important metabolites of plants are pigments which aid in photosynthesis, many of which confer color upon the plant tissue. In this sub-project, we aim to alter the color of Arabidopsis flowers via accumulation of such pigments.

Our target pigments are two elements of the carotenoid metabolic pathway -- lycopene (red) and beta-carotene (orange). We aim to accumulate these compounds by using RNA interference to knock down enzymes catalyzing the steps in the metabolic pathway that use use pigments as precursors. We have targeted three enzymes for knockdown, and will express these knockdown constructs using a petal specific promoter to localize pigment accumulation

The vision for this sub-project is to not only produce an interesting feature, but also to develop a system in which we can color-code our constructs and provide unique visual markers for plants that express differing traits that cannot be detected visually. In addition, as many carotenoids are also important micronutrients, we may be able to use this mechanism to improve the nutritional content of target plants.