Experts from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reported the enhancement of lysine content in camelina (Camelina sativa) through the expression of a feedback inhibition-insensitive form of dihydrodipicolinate synthase (DHDPS) from a bacterium. The results are published in Transgenic Research.
Camelina is becoming a popular alternative oilseed crop because of its short growing cycle, low input needs, adaptability to less favorable growing environments, and optimum seed oil profile for biofuel and industrial applications. However, the camelina meal is deficient in certain amino acids including lysine. In other plants, lysine is produced through a reaction catalyzed by DHDPS and is subject to regulation by lysine through feedback inhibition. Thus, the researchers identified the genes encoding the DHDPS in camelina. Through site-directed mutagenesis, the effect of the changes was observed in lysine-desensitized DHDPS isoforms from Arabidopsis DHDPS (W53R), tobacco (N80I), and maize (E84K) on camelina DHDPS lysine sensitivity. Results showed that the seed lysine content was boosted by 13.6 to 22.6% in CgDHDPS transgenic lines and 7.6 to13.2% in the mCsDHDPS lines.
(Source: Crop Biotech Update, International Service for Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications. www.isaaa.org)
