Flavonoid production in transgenic hop (Humulus lupulus L.) altered by PAP1/MYB75 from Arabidopsis thaliana L

• Published in: Plant cell reports 2012, Vol.31 (1), p.111-119
• Main Authors: Gatica-Arias, A, Farag, M. A, Stanke, M, Matoušek, J, Wessjohann, L, Weber, G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anthocyanins; Anthocyanins - metabolism; Arabidopsis Proteins - genetics; Arabidopsis Proteins - metabolism; Arabidopsis thaliana; beta acids; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Cell Biology; Chemical analysis; Color; Color vision; Cones; female flowers; Flavonoids; Flavonoids - metabolism; Flowers; Flowers - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene regulation; genes; genetic transformation; Genomes; Humulus - chemistry; Humulus - drug effects; Humulus - genetics; Humulus - metabolism; Humulus lupulus; Kanamycin - pharmacology; Kanamycin Resistance - genetics; Life Sciences; Metabolites; Original Paper; Pancreatitis-Associated Proteins; Plant Biochemistry; Plant Sciences; Plants, Genetically Modified - metabolism; Propiophenones - metabolism; rutin; Secondary metabolites; Transcription; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Transformation; Transgenic plants; xanthohumol
• ISSN: 0721-7714; 1432-203X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00299-011-1144-5

Hop is an important source of secondary metabolites, such as flavonoids. Some of these are pharmacologically active. Nevertheless, the concentration of some classes as flavonoids in wild-type plants is rather low. To enhance the production in hop, it would be interesting to modify the regulation of genes in the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway. For this purpose, the regulatory factor PAP1/AtMYB75 from Arabidopsis thaliana L. was introduced into hop plants cv. Tettnanger by Agrobacterium-mediated genetic transformation. Twenty kanamycin-resistant transgenic plants were obtained. It was shown that PAP1/AtMYB75 was stably incorporated and expressed in the hop genome. In comparison to the wild-type plants, the color of female flowers and cones of transgenic plants was reddish to pink. Chemical analysis revealed higher levels of anthocyanins, rutin, isoquercitin, kaempferol-glucoside, kaempferol-glucoside-malonate, desmethylxanthohumol, xanthohumol, α-acids and β-acids in transgenic plants compared to wild-type plants.