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JXB Advance Access originally published online on November 5, 2008
Journal of Experimental Botany 2008 59(15):4219-4231; doi:10.1093/jxb/ern264
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© 2008 The Author(s).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This paper is available online free of all access charges (see http://jxb.oxfordjournals.org/open_access.html for further details)

RESEARCH PAPER

Expression profiling of potato germplasm differentiated in quality traits leads to the identification of candidate flavour and texture genes

Laurence J. M. Ducreux1, Wayne L. Morris1, Ian M. Prosser2, Jenny A. Morris3, Michael H. Beale2, Frank Wright4, Tom Shepherd1, Glenn J. Bryan3, Pete E. Hedley3 and Mark A. Taylor1,*

1Plant Products and Food Quality, SCRI, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK
2PSC Department, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, Hertfordshire AL5 2JQ, UK
3Genetics, SCRI, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK
4Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS), Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed: E-mail: mark.taylor{at}scri.ac.uk

Quality traits such as flavour and texture are assuming a greater importance in crop breeding programmes. This study takes advantage of potato germplasm differentiated in tuber flavour and texture traits. A recently developed 44 000-element potato microarray was used to identify tuber gene expression profiles that correspond to differences in tuber flavour and texture as well as carotenoid content and dormancy characteristics. Gene expression was compared in two Solanum tuberosum group Phureja cultivars and two S. tuberosum group Tuberosum cultivars; 309 genes were significantly and consistently up-regulated in Phureja, whereas 555 genes were down-regulated. Approximately 46% of the genes in these lists can be identified from their annotation and amongst these are candidates that may underpin the Phureja/Tuberosum trait differences. For example, a clear difference in the cooked tuber volatile profile is the higher level of the sesquiterpene {alpha}-copaene in Phureja compared with Tuberosum. A sesquiterpene synthase gene was identified as being more highly expressed in Phureja tubers and its corresponding full-length cDNA was demonstrated to encode {alpha}-copaene synthase. Other potential ‘flavour genes’, identified from their differential expression profiles, include those encoding branched-chain amino acid aminotransferase and a ribonuclease suggesting a mechanism for 5'-ribonucleotide formation in potato tubers on cooking. Major differences in the expression levels of genes involved in cell wall biosynthesis (and potentially texture) were also identified, including genes encoding pectin acetylesterase, xyloglucan endotransglycosylase and pectin methylesterase. Other gene expression differences that may impact tuber carotenoid content and tuber life-cycle phenotypes are discussed.

Key words: {alpha}-Copaene, flavour, microarray, Solanum tuberosum group Phureja, Solanum tuberosum group Tuberosum, texture, volatile

Received 20 June 2008; Revised 3 October 2008 Accepted 6 October 2008


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