Carotenogenesis gene cluster and phytoene desaturase catalyzing both three- and four-step desaturations from Rhodobacter azotoformans

Phytoene desaturase from Arabidopsis.

Carotenoids are isoprenyl pigments necessary for protection of the photosynthetic apparatus in a11 green plants. One of the intermediate steps in carotenoid biosynthesis is the conversion of phytoene to {-carotene via two dehydrogenation reactions catalyzed by the enzyme PDS. We have previously cloned cDNAs for this enzyme from soybean (Glycine max; Bartley et al., 1991) and tomato (Lycopersico...

Tomato and Tobacco Phytoene Desaturase Gene Silencing by Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) Technique

Background and Aims: Virus-Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS) is a virus vector technology that exploits antiviral defense mechanism. By infecting plants with recombinant viruses containing host genes inserted in the viral genome, VIGS achieves the RNA silencing process. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and tobacco (Nicotiana be...

tomato and tobacco phytoene desaturase gene silencing by virus-induced gene silencing (vigs) technique

background and aims: virus-induced gene silencing (vigs) is a virus vector technology that exploits antiviral defense mechanism. by infecting plants with recombinant viruses containing host genes inserted in the viral genome, vigs achieves the rna silencing process. the purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of tomato (lycopersicon esculentum mill.) and tobacco (nicotiana bent...

Identification and functional analysis of a phytoene desaturase gene from the extremely radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans.

The phytoene-related desaturases are the key enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. The gene encoding phytoene desaturase in the deinoxanthin synthesis pathway of Deinococcus radiodurans was identified and characterized. Two putative phytoene desaturase homologues (DR0861 and DR0810) were identified by analysis of conserved amino acid regions, and the former displayed the highest ident...

The phytoene synthase gene family in the Grasses: subfunctionalization provides tissue-specific control of carotenogenesis.