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 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.

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.

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.

Team:Harvard/color

From 2010.igem.org

abstract