Transgene coding of a key enzyme of the glycolytic pathway helps to decrease sugar content in potato tubers

Navrátil O., Bucher P., Vacek J.
CZECH JOURNAL OF GENETICS AND PLANT BREEDING 48: 42-45, 2012

Keywords: Lactobacillus bulgaricus, low temperature sweetening, phosphofructokinase, transgenic potato
Abstract: Cold-stored potato tubers gradually accumulate reducing sugars. A proposed reason is a cold-induced blocking of glycolysis. The introduction and expression of the bacterial gene Lbpfk coding for cold-tolerant phosphofructokinase might counteract this effect. We have recently introduced this gene into several Czech potato cultivars. The obtained transgenic lines were then tested for three years in field trials. In 17 transgenic lines derived from two of the cultivars we have investigated the accumulation of reducing sugars during two and four months of cold storage. Although in all transgenic lines the sugar content still increased between the 2nd and the 4th month of cold-storage, the level of reducing sugars was in all transgenic lines after both two and four months of cold storage considerably lower than in the original cultivars. The extent of sugar accumulation was also influenced by the parental genotype. No significant differences in sugar accumulation were observed between the transgenic lines from the same parent.
DOI:
Fulltext: contact IEB authors
IEB authors: Oldřich Navrátil