Use of Seed Storage Proteins for Protein Quality Improvements in Nonseed Crops
Besides seeds, a variety of other plant organs are valuable sources of protein.
Potato tubers are the most important noncereal food crop, since they are consumed
by humans and animals and used in the manufacture of starch and alcohol.
Most transgenic research with potato has been directed toward improving yield as
well as disease and pest resistance (Doreste
et al., 2002; Gulina
et al., 1994; Hausler
et al., 2002), rather than improving protein quality. Potato is not only protein
deficient but also low in lysine, tyrosine, and sulfur amino acids (Jaynes
et al.,
1986). Consequently, potato is a good candidate for protein improvement by
genetic engineering. The possibility of using the BNA to enhance the sulfur
content of potato has been investigated (Tu
et al., 1998). The CaMV 35S promoter
was used to confer constitutive expression of the gene, and this resulted in modest
levels of the protein in leaves and tubers. Significantly, it was possible to modify
the variable region of the BNA gene so that the protein contains an even higher
proportion of methionine. Furthermore, since the allergenicity of the protein
appears to reside in this region, it may ultimately be possible to engineer nonallergenic
versions of this protein (Tu
et al., 1998). The sulfur-rich maize δ-zein has
also been expressed in potato tubers, resulting in a substantial increase in sulfur
amino acid levels (Li
et al., 2001).
The gene encoding the storage albumin from
Amaranthus hypochondriacus (
AmA1) provides another potential mechanism to increase protein quality
(Raina and Datta, 1992). This protein has a good balance of all the essential
amino acids and apparently is nonallergenic.
AmA1 was expressed in potato
under control of the CaMV 35S promoter and the tuber-specific, granule-bound
starch synthase (GBSS) promoter, both of which resulted in substantial increases
in all essential amino acids in the tubers (Chakraborty
et al., 2000). The most highly
expressing transgenic lines showed a 2.5- to 4-fold increase in tuber lysine,
tyrosine, methionine, and cysteine levels, whereas the GBSS lines had a 4- to
8-fold increase in these amino acids. These changes did not result in the depletion
of endogenous proteins (Chakraborty
et al., 2000). Consequently, transgenic
expression of the
AmA1 gene is a promising approach for improvement of protein
quality in grain and nongrain crops.
The foliage of pasture crops is also a target for methionine enhancement and
may provide a more efficient way to enrich the ruminant diet than with seeds,
such as the previously described transgenic lupins. Ruminant livestock, such
as cattle and sheep, require methionine in their diet. As previously noted, it is
particularly important for sheep that require large amounts of sulfur amino acids
for wool production. SSA is a good protein to produce in pasture crops because it
is resistant to digestion in the rumen, allowing its amino acids to be absorbed in
the small intestine. The subterranean clover (
Trifolium subterraneum), which is
widely cultivated in Australia, has been transformed with a gene encoding the
SSA protein modified with an ER retention signal. Transgenic plants accumulated
SSA up to 1.2% of total leaf protein (Khan
et al., 1996), but the results of sheep feeding trials have not been reported. Similar constructs were introduced into
white clover (
Trifolium repens), but much lower levels of the transgenic protein
were found to accumulate in the leaves (Christiansen
et al., 2000).
The methionine-rich maize zein proteins have also been investigated for their
ability to raise foliage methionine levels. When the δ-zein gene was constitutively
expressed in white clover, the protein accumulated at up to 1.3% of total protein
in all the tissues (Sharma
et al., 1998). Birdsfoot trefoil (
Lotus corniculatus) and
alfalfa (
Medicago sativa) are two other foliage crops that have been targeted for
methionine improvement by transformation with genes encoding β- and γ-zeins
(Bellucci
et al., 2002). Earlier work showed that expression of β- and γ-zeins in
transgenic tobacco leaves led to the colocalization of these proteins in PBs, underlining
the effectiveness of exploiting natural zein interactions in accumulating the
proteins in transgenic tissues (Bellucci
et al., 2000).
Another approach to improve amino acid deficiencies made use of artificial
genes designed to correct specific amino acid deficiencies in target tissues. One
strategy employed random ligation of mixtures of small oligonucleotides containing
a high proportion of codons for methionine and lysine (Yang
et al., 1989). The
product was a gene encoding a protein without any clearly defined secondary
structure, and it was associated with limited protein accumulation in potato
tubers (Yang
et al., 1989). In an attempt to produce a synthetic protein with defined
secondary structure, Keeler
et al. (1997) designed 21-base pair oligonucleotides
that encode coiled-coil heptad repeats, forming polypeptides containing up to
31% lysine and 20% methionine. Several different polypeptides were produced
that contained up to eight heptad repeats. Under control of the soybean
β-conglycinin promoter, this gene resulted in significant increases in lysine and
methionine in tobacco seeds that were stable over three generations (Keeler
et al.,
1997). Such tailor-made proteins are potentially interesting tools for improving the
protein quality of seed and nonseed crops, but it remains to be seen whether they
would be acceptable to consumers.