Identification, cloning, and expression analysis of three phytoene synthase genes from Cucurbita pepo

• Published in: Biologia plantarum Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 201 - 210
• Main Authors: Obrero, Á, González-Verdejo, C. I, Román, B, Gómez, P, Die, J. V, Ampomah-Dwamena, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer-Verlag 01-06-2015; Springer Netherlands; Institute of Experimental Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences
• Subjects: Biomedical and Life Sciences; biosynthesis; carotenoids; carrots; Cucurbita pepo; cultivars; Daucus; flowers; Fragaria; fruit development; fruiting; fruits; gene expression regulation; genes; leaves; Life Sciences; nucleotide sequences; Original Papers; Pepo; phylogenetic tree; phylogeny; phytoene synthase; Plant Sciences; proteins; strawberries; summer squash; tissues; transcriptional analysis; zucchini; fruit development; phylogenetic tree; transcriptional analysis; summer squash
• ISSN: 0006-3134; 1573-8264
• DOI: 10.1007/s10535-015-0504-3

An essential step in the carotenoid biosynthesis pathway is the formation of phytoene by phytoene synthase (PSY). In this study, three new genes coding PSYs (CpPSYA, CpPSYB, and CpPSYC) were cloned from Cucurbita pepo and their expression patterns analysed in three cultivars of summer squash which had a different carotenoid content. The gene sequences had a high similarity with those from other plant species, and their predicted proteins were significantly different from each other. A phylogenetic analysis indicates that CpPSYA and CpPSYB shared a high homology and were also homologous with PSYs from others cucurbits, whereas CpPSYC was more closely related to orthologues from strawberry and carrot. An expression analysis revealed that CpPSYA had a higher expression in flowers compared to leaves and showed a differential expression during fruit development. The amount of CpPSYA transcript was higher in fruits with a higher carotenoid content than in those with a lower carotenoid content. However, CpPSYB and CpPSYC showed a relatively high expression in leaves, and their expression in fruits varied among the different cultivars and fruit tissues. These results suggest that the CpPSY genes were under different regulatory mechanisms and they may have different roles in C. pepo.