Dehydration responsive element binding proteins (DREB) are members of a larger family of transcription factors, many of which have been reported to contribute to plant responses to abiotic stresses in several species. While, little is known about their role in potato (Solanum tuberosum). This report describes the cloning and characterization of a DREB transcription factor cDNA, StDREB2, isolate...

It has been established that drought-responsive element binding (DREB) proteins correspond to transcription factors which play important regulatory roles in plant response to abiotic and biotic stresses. In this study, a novel cDNA encoding DREB transcription factor, designated StDREB1, was isolated from potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). This protein was classified in the A-4 group of DREB subfami...

There is no direct evidence of the effect of lignin metabolism on early storage root development in sweet potato. In this study, we found that heterologous expression of the maize leaf color (Lc) gene in sweet potato increased anthocyanin pigment accumulation in the whole plant and resulted in reduced size with an increased length/width ratio, low yield and less starch content in the early stor...

ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase (AGPase) is a key regulatory enzyme in starch biosynthesis in higher plants. A 3.2-kb promoter of the large subunit gene of the AGPase from potato has been isolated and its activity analyzed in transgenic potato and tobacco plants using a promoter-beta-glucuronidase fusion system. The promoter was active in various starch-containing cells, including guard cells, tu...

Infection of plant cells by potyviruses induces the formation of cytoplasmic inclusions ranging in size from 200 to 1000 nm. To determine if the ability to form these ordered, insoluble structures is intrinsic to the potyviral cytoplasmic inclusion protein, we have expressed the cytoplasmic inclusion protein from Potato virus Y in tobacco under the control of the chrysanthemum ribulose-1,5-bisp...

The physiology of the gut lumen of the red flour beetle, T. castaneum, was studied to determine the conditions for optimal protein hydrolysis. Although the pH of gut lumen extracts from T. castaneum was 6.5, maximum hydrolysis of casein by gut proteinases occurred at pH 4.2. The synthetic substrate N-alpha-benzoyl-DL-arginine-rho-nitroanilide was hydrolyzed by T. castaneum gut proteinases in bo...

In several vegetable species a relationship between the metabolism of active oxygen species and breakage of dormancy has been established. However, scarce information is available on the role of oxidative stress in potato tubers. The purpose of this investigation is to study the effect of CAT genetic modification on the dormancy break of potato tubers. A transgenic approach with partial repress...

Sucrose (Suc) transporters belong to a large gene family. The physiological role of SUT1 proteins has been intensively investigated in higher plants, whereas that of SUT4 proteins is so far unknown. All three known Suc transporters from potato (Solanum tuberosum), SUT1, SUT2, and SUT4, are colocalized and their RNA levels not only follow a diurnal rhythm, but also oscillate in constant light. H...