FEBS Letters
Volume 580, Issue 11 , Pages 2540-2546, 15 May 2006

Constitutive activation of the jasmonate signaling pathway enhances the production of secondary metabolites in tomato

Edited by Mark Stitt

  • Hui Chen

      Affiliations

    • Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
    • ,
  • A. Daniel Jones

      Affiliations

    • Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
    • Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
    • ,
  • Gregg A. Howe

      Affiliations

    • Department of Energy-Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
    • Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Fax: +1 517 3539168.

Received 20 January 2006; received in revised form 15 March 2006; accepted 27 March 2006. published online 07 April 2006.

Abstract 

The phytohormone jasmonic acid (JA) regulates the synthesis of secondary metabolites in a wide range of plant species. Here, we show that exogenous methyl-JA (MeJA) elicits massive accumulation of caffeoylputrescine (CP) in tomato leaves. A mutant (jai1) that is defective in jasmonate perception failed to accumulate CP in flowers and MeJA-treated leaves. Conversely, a transgenic tomato line (called 35S::PS) that exhibits constitutive JA signaling accumulated high levels of leaf CP in the absence of jasmonate treatment. RNA blot analysis showed that genes encoding enzymes in the phenylpropanoid and polyamine pathways for CP biosynthesis are upregulated in MeJA-treated wild-type plants and in untreated 35S::PS plants. These results indicate that CP accumulation in tomato is tightly controlled by the jasmonate signaling pathway, and provide proof-of-concept that the production of some plant secondary metabolites can be enhanced by transgenic manipulation of endogenous JA levels.

Keywords: Jasmonic acid, Caffeoylputrescine, Metabolic engineering, Tomato, Systemin

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PII: S0014-5793(06)00400-5

doi:10.1016/j.febslet.2006.03.070

FEBS Letters
Volume 580, Issue 11 , Pages 2540-2546, 15 May 2006

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