植物代謝工学に資する基礎技術に関する研究

概要

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Plant metabolic engineering, whereby specific genes can be up- or down-regulated to create useful characteristics, is one of the most important areas in plant biotechnology for modulating plant metabolisms, but requires accurate metabolic profiling as well as a system for specific suppression of multiple genes. Plant metabolic profiling can be divided into two categories : exhaustive top-down metabolic profiling by a combination of chromatography and mass spectrometry ; and target-directed bottom-up metabolic profiling using specific ligands. Both approaches would be useful in different cases. The present paper describes the SELEX screening of single-strand random oligo DNA libraries to afford specific ligands and DNA aptamers for a number of metabolites that have been thought of as challenging targets. The high-resolution profiling of polyprenol using super-critical fluid chromatography is also mentioned and the application of RNAi for modulation of flower color is described. Chalcone synthase, the key enzyme in the formation of the blue color of Torenia petals, was suppressed by means of RNAi, resulting in the total suppression of color in the transformant. An in vitro transient RNAi assay system was developed for high-throughput analysis of metabolism-related gene functions. Direct introduction of the dsRNAs of the 3'UTR of endogenous genes achieved simultaneous suppression of multiple genes.
社団法人日本生物工学会の論文
2005-02-25