Pleiotropic effect of flavonoid biosynthesis manipulation in transgenic potato plants

Three approaches were successfully used to manipulate content of flavonoids in transgenic plants. Overexpressing either the adaptor 14-3-3 protein or genes coding the key enzymes of the flavonoid biosynthesis pathway resulted in a significant increase in the compound content in potato tuber epidermis. The opposite effect was observed in transgenic plants in which these proteins were repressed; this strongly supports the view that the gene construct determines transgenic plant features. The most effective construct was, however, the one containing single dihydroflavonol reductase (DFR) gene in sense orientation. In all cases the increase in flavonoid content resulted in the expected enhancement of the antioxidant capacity of tuber extract. At the biochemical level a decrease in the starch content in transgenic plant overexpressing proteins regulating flavonoid biosynthesis was detected. In the case of glucosyl transferase (GT) gene overexpression, the content of phenolic compounds remained at the control level, however, the antioxidant capacity of tuber extracts significantly decreased. The GT plants grew faster and were more resistant to pathogen attacks, the tuber yield was significantly higher than that of nontransformants. Thus it is speculated that it is the chemical structure and degree of glucosylation of flavonoids rather than their quantity which determines transgenic plant features.