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Overexpression of the Monodehydroascorbate Reductase Gene from Non-heading Chinese Cabbage Reduces Ascorbate Level and Growth in Transgenic Tobacco

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Abstract

l-Ascorbic acid is an important antioxidant in both animals and plants. Monodehydroascorbate reductase is an enzyme involved in regulating the l-ascorbic acid level in plants. Here, we report the cloning of the reductase gene from non-heading Chinese cabbage (Brassica campestris ssp. chinensis Makino) and negative regulation of l-ascorbic acid and dehydroascorbate levels in transgenic tobacco plants expressing the gene under the control of the 35S promoter. The transgenic plants had reduced growth. The transgenic plants had changed the expression of the genes in the d-mannose/l-galactose pathway, degradation and recycling pathway and the activity of enzymes involved in degradation (ascorbate oxidase and ascorbate peroxidase) or recycling of ascorbic acid (dehydroascorbate reductase and glutathione reductase).

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, grant no. 2009CB119001), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (grant no. KYZ201111), and the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (863 Program, grant no. 2012AA100101, 2012AA100102).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Horticultural Department, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Jun Ren, Weike Duan, Zhongwen Chen, Shuo Zhang, Xiaoming Song, Tongkun Liu, Xilin Hou & Ying Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Crop Genetics and Germplasm Enhancement, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Jun Ren, Weike Duan, Zhongwen Chen, Shuo Zhang, Xiaoming Song, Tongkun Liu, Xilin Hou & Ying Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Southern Vegetable Crop Genetic Improvement, Ministry of Agriculture, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Jun Ren, Weike Duan, Zhongwen Chen, Shuo Zhang, Xiaoming Song, Tongkun Liu, Xilin Hou & Ying Li

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  1. Jun Ren
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Correspondence to Ying Li.

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Supplement Fig. 1

Identification of BcMDHAR gene in transgenic plants by PCR. 1–6 Wild type, 7–15 transgenic plants, M DL2000 marker. (JPEG 48 kb)

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Ren, J., Duan, W., Chen, Z. et al. Overexpression of the Monodehydroascorbate Reductase Gene from Non-heading Chinese Cabbage Reduces Ascorbate Level and Growth in Transgenic Tobacco. Plant Mol Biol Rep 33, 881–892 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11105-014-0797-y

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