Carotenoid biosynthetic and catabolic pathways: gene expression and carotenoid content in grains of maize landraces.

ABSTRACT: Plant carotenoids have been implicated in preventing several age-related diseases, and they also provide vitamin A precursors; therefore, increasing the content of carotenoids in maize grains is of great interest. It is not well understood, however, how the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway is regulated. Fortunately, the maize germplasm exhibits a high degree of genetic diversity that can be exploited for this purpose. Here, the accumulation of carotenoids and the expression of genes from carotenoid metabolic and catabolic pathways were investigated in several maize landraces. The carotenoid content in grains varied from 10.03, in the white variety MC5, to 61.50 μg·g⁻¹, in the yellow-to-orange variety MC3, and the major carotenoids detected were lutein and zeaxanthin. PSY1 (phythoene synthas

SUBMITTER: da Silva Messias R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3942716 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature