Laticifer-specific cis-prenyltransferase silencing affects the rubber, triterpene, and inulin content of Taraxacum brevicorniculatum

Plant Physiol. 2012 Mar;158(3):1406-17. doi: 10.1104/pp.111.187880. Epub 2012 Jan 11.

Abstract

Certain Taraxacum species, such as Taraxacum koksaghyz and Taraxacum brevicorniculatum, produce large amounts of high-quality natural rubber in their latex, the milky cytoplasm of specialized cells known as laticifers. This high-molecular mass biopolymer consists mainly of poly(cis-1,4-isoprene) and is deposited in rubber particles by particle-bound enzymes that carry out the stereospecific condensation of isopentenyl diphosphate units. The polymer configuration suggests that the chain-elongating enzyme (rubber transferase; EC 2.5.1.20) is a cis-prenyltransferase (CPT). Here, we present a comprehensive analysis of transgenic T. brevicorniculatum plants in which the expression of three recently isolated CPTs known to be associated with rubber particles (TbCPT1 to -3) was heavily depleted by laticifer-specific RNA interference (RNAi). Analysis of the CPT-RNAi plants by nuclear magnetic resonance, size-exclusion chromatography, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry indicated a significant reduction in rubber biosynthesis and a corresponding 50% increase in the levels of triterpenes and the main storage carbohydrate, inulin. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the laticifers in CPT-RNAi plants contained fewer and smaller rubber particles than wild-type laticifers. We also observed lower activity of hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase, the key enzyme in the mevalonate pathway, reflecting homeostatic control of the isopentenyl diphosphate pool. To our knowledge, this is the first in planta demonstration of latex-specific CPT activity in rubber biosynthesis.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Chromatography, Gel
  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry
  • Hemiterpenes / chemistry
  • Homeostasis
  • Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases / chemistry
  • Inulin / chemistry*
  • Latex / chemistry
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
  • Organophosphorus Compounds / chemistry
  • Plant Roots / chemistry
  • Plant Roots / enzymology
  • Plant Roots / ultrastructure
  • Plants, Genetically Modified / chemistry
  • Plants, Genetically Modified / enzymology
  • RNA Interference
  • Rubber / chemistry*
  • Taraxacum / chemistry*
  • Taraxacum / enzymology
  • Transferases / chemistry*
  • Transgenes
  • Triterpenes / chemistry*

Substances

  • Hemiterpenes
  • Latex
  • Organophosphorus Compounds
  • Triterpenes
  • isopentenyl pyrophosphate
  • 1,4-polyisoprene
  • Inulin
  • Rubber
  • Hydroxymethylglutaryl CoA Reductases
  • Transferases
  • cis-prenyl transferase