Improving Nutritional Quality of Maize Proteins by Expressing Sense and Antisense Zein Genes

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• 作者：Shihshieh Huang ; Whitney R. Adams ; Qing Zhou ; Kathleen P. Malloy ; Dale A. Voyles ; Jan Anthony ; Alan L. Kriz ; and Michael H. Luethy
• 刊名：Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
• 出版年：2004
• 出版时间：April 7, 2004
• 年：2004
• 卷：52
• 期：7
• 页码：1958 - 1964
• 全文大小：555K
• 年卷期：v.52,no.7(April 7, 2004)
• ISSN：1520-5118

文摘

The predominant proteins in maize grain are a family of alcohol-soluble prolamin storage proteinscalled zeins. They account for >50% of total seed proteins but are deficient in several essentialamino acids. As a result, the corn grain is considered to be nutritionally poor for monogastric animalswith respect to key essential amino acids, most notably lysine, tryptophan, and methionine. Thus,corn mutants with reduced levels of zeins, such as opaque-2 (o2), have been demonstrated to possessgrain with improved nutritional quality characteristics. The o2 mutant has a superior amino acidcomposition and has been used through conventional breeding to develop Quality Protein Maize(QPM) for human and animal consumption in developing countries. With the understanding ofmolecular genetics of zeins and progress in biotechnology, an alternative approach to zein reductionis explored here. Through the targeted reduction of the 19-kDa -zeins, increased levels of lysine,tryptophan, and methionine have been engineered in grain of transgenic hybrids. Currently, theagronomic properties and nutritional values of these transgenic lines are being evaluated.Keywords: Zein reduction; high lysine; high tryptophan; quality trait; antisense; maize; nutritionalquality