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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2016, Vol. 15 Issue (9): 1968-1982    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(15)61192-3
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A plastidic ATP/ADP transporter gene, IbAATP, increases starch and amylose contents and alters starch structure in transgenic sweetpotato
WANG Yan-nan, LI Yan, ZHANG Huan, ZHAI Hong, LIU Qing-chang, HE Shao-zhen
College of Agronomy & Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, P.R.China
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Abstract      A plastidic adenosine triphosphate (ATP)/adenosine diphosphate (ADP) transporter (AATP) is responsible for importing ATP from the cytosol into plastids. In dicotyledonous plants, increasing ATP supply is a potential way to facilitate anabolic synthesis in heterotrophic plastids. In this study, a gene encoding the AATP protein, named IbAATP, was isolated from sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.). Transcripts of IbAATP were predominantly detected in the storage roots and leaves and were induced by exogenous sucrose and subjected to circadian rhythm. Transient expression of IbAATP in tobacco and onion epidermal cells revealed the plastidic localization of IbAATP. The overexpression of IbAATP in sweetpotato significantly increased the starch and amylose contents and led to enlarged starch granules. The IbAATP-overexpressing plants showed altered fine structure of amylopectin, which contained an increased proportion of chains with a degree of polymerization (DP) of 10–23 and a reduced number of chains with a DP of 5–9 and 24–40. In addition, starch from the transgenic plants exhibited different pasting properties. The transcript levels of starch biosynthetic genes, including IbAGP, IbGBSSI, IbSSI-IV, and IbSBE, were differentially regulated in the transgenic plants. These results revealed the explicit role of IbAATP in the starch biosynthesis of sweetpotato and indicated that this gene has the potential to be used to improve starch content and quality in sweetpotato and other plants.
Keywords:  sweetpotato        IbAATP        starch content and composition        starch granule size        starch structure        pasting properties  
Received: 20 July 2015   Accepted:
Fund: 

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31371680), the Beijing Food Crops Innovation Consortium Program and the China Agriculture Research System (CARS-11).

Corresponding Authors:  HE Shao-zhen, +86-10-62732559, E-mail: sunnynba@cau.edu.cn   
About author:  WANG Yan-nan, +86-10-62732559, E-mail: alman001@qq.com

Cite this article: 

WANG Yan-nan, LI Yan, ZHANG Huan, ZHAI Hong, LIU Qing-chang, HE Shao-zhen. 2016. A plastidic ATP/ADP transporter gene, IbAATP, increases starch and amylose contents and alters starch structure in transgenic sweetpotato. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 15(9): 1968-1982.

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