Organism with altered carotenoid content and method of producing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9453237-B2
Application number	US-201113582945-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 9, 2011
Priority date	Mar 9, 2010
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to means and methods for modifying the expression of a component in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway to modify the production of carotenoid towards accumulation of at least one of phytoene, phytofluene, zeta carotene or combinations thereof. The present invention further relates to genetically altered organisms having elevated content of these carotenoids. The present invention further relates to genetically altered organisms having elevated content of these carotenoids, particularly in chromoplast-containing cells.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A genetically altered tomato plant comprising at least one genetically altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell having reduced expression or activity of a native Ziso protein compared to a corresponding non-altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell, wherein:
(i) the native Ziso protein comprises the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3; and
(ii) the at least one genetically altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell comprises a polynucleotide comprising at least one mutation forming a mutated Ziso polynucleotide, wherein the at least one mutation results in reduced expression of the Ziso protein or in the production of a non-functional Ziso protein;
said genetically altered fruit and/or flower cell comprises elevated content of at least one carotenoid selected from the group consisting of phytoene, phytofluene, zeta carotene and a combination thereof compared to the non-altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell.

2. The genetically altered tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein the native Ziso protein is encoded by a polynucleotide having the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2.

3. The genetically altered tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein the mutated Ziso polynucleotide comprises the nucleic acid sequence set forth in any one of SEQ ID NO:4 and SEQ ID NO:6.

4. The genetically altered tomato plant of claim 3 , wherein the mutated Ziso polynucleotide encodes non-functional Ziso protein having the amino acid sequence set forth in any one of SEQ ID NO:5 and SEQ ID NO:7.

5. A seed of the genetically altered tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein a plant grown from the seed comprises at least one genetically altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell having a polynucleotide comprising at least one mutation forming a mutated Ziso polynucleotide, wherein the at least one mutation results in reduced expression of a native Ziso protein comprising the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3 or in the production of a non-functional Ziso protein, thereby having elevated content of at least one carotenoid selected from the group consisting of phytoene, phytofluene, zeta-carotene and a combination thereof compared to a corresponding non-altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell.

6. A cell suspension or tissue culture isolated from the genetically altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell of the tomato plant of claim 1 , wherein the tomato cell suspension or tissue culture comprise elevated content of at least one carotenoid selected from the group consisting of phytoene, phytofluene, zeta carotene and a combination thereof compared to a corresponding non-altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell.

7. A method of elevating the content of phytoene, phytofluene, zeta carotene or a combination thereof in at least one chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell of tomato plant, the method comprising inhibiting the expression or activity of a native Ziso protein having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:3 in the at least one chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell, wherein inhibiting the expression or activity of the Ziso protein comprises introducing a mutation in a polynucleotide encoding said Ziso protein thereby producing a plant having an elevated content of at least one carotenoid selected from the group consisting of phytoene, phytofluene, zeta carotene and a combination thereof in said at least one chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell compared to a corresponding non-altered chromoplast-containing fruit and/or flower cell.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the polynucleotide encoding the native Ziso protein comprises the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:2.

9. An isolated polynucleotide encoding non-functional Ziso protein having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:5.

10. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 9 , having the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:4.

11. An isolated polynucleotide encoding non-functional Ziso protein having the amino acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:7.

12. The isolated polynucleotide of claim 11 , having the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:6.

Assignees

• Hirschberg Joseph
• Zamir Dani
• Yissum Res Dev Co

Inventors

• Hirschberg Joseph
• Zamir Dani

Classifications

• C12N15/825 Primary

  involving pigment biosynthesis · CPC title

• C07K14/415

  from plants · CPC title