ISHS Acta Horticulturae 583: I International Conference on Sweetpotato. Food and Health for the Future
PROSPECTS FOR MANIPULATING STARCH BIOSYNTHESIS IN SWEETPOTATO USING MOLECULAR TOOLS |
| Authors: | L. Babu, B. Nambisan |
| Keywords: | Starch biosynthesis, sweet potato, modulation, molecular tools, AGPase |
| Abstract:
Prospects for manipulating starch composition using modern molecular tools has given an impetus to research on starch metabolism. Transgenic plants and mutants with altered starch content and composition have been produced in several plants such as maize, Arabidopsis thaliana, pea, rice, and potato, opening such a possibility in sweetpotato and kindling the need to understand the key regulatory steps controlling starch biosynthesis or mobilization in their tubers. However, in contrast to cereals and potato, research on starch metabolism in sweet potato has been confined to a handful of laboratories. We have been working on the biochemical constituents of germplasm lines of sweetpotato and metabolic regulation of starch biosynthesis and mobilization in them. Varieties, which accumulate high/medium/low levels of starch and sugar at maturity have been identified. Our research on sucrose synthase and invertase activity in sweet potato tubers are indicative of invertase playing the catalytic role in cleavage of imported sucrose in developing tubers of sweetpotato. Prospects for genetic manipulations of starch biosynthesis with a view to alter the quantity and quality of starch in sweet potato is discussed in the context of reports from other laboratories on sweetpotato and allied crops. | |
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