Identification of transcriptional regulators determining nutritional quality of tomato

Fearnley, Eleanor (2019) Identification of transcriptional regulators determining nutritional quality of tomato. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

Consumption of dietary antioxidants and vitamins is advantageous for the prevention of diet-related diseases. Increasing the consumption of Vitamin E (VTE) in the human diet should have a plethora of health benefits; increased anti inflammatory responses, reduced cardio-vascular risk in patients with diabetes and improved plasma membrane repair. Therefore, there are predicted benefits to increasing VTE in our diets. Biofortification attempts to increase VTE have been limited to manipulating enzymes of the VTE pathway, which often lead to the greater production of less bioactive vitamers. Transcriptional regulation of VTE synthesis in plants remains poorly understood, but identification of transcriptional regulators could overcome some of the limitations on biofortification of VTE in crops used for food.

In this thesis, I have used expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) to identify candidate transcriptional regulators of VTE biosynthesis in tomato fruit. Using the S.pennellii x S.lycopersicum cv. M82 tomato introgression lines (ILs), I have identified several trans-eQTLs, which contain candidate transcriptional regulators of VTE biosynthesis. The trans-eQTL IL9-3-2 revealed a MYB transcription factor – a candidate transcriptional repressor of the methyl erythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway, which supplies precursors for VTE biosynthesis. The trans-eQTL IL6-2-2 also revealed two MYB 1R transcriptional repressors of VTE biosynthesis in tomato fruit. Additionally, analysis of fruits of the IL parents revealed that S.pennellii fruits contain normally absent forms of VTE; tocotrienols.

Overall, my work to identify transcriptional regulators of VTE biosynthesis has resulted in the production of VTE-enriched tomatoes.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
Depositing User:	Users 9280 not found.
Date Deposited:	04 Feb 2019 11:14
Last Modified:	30 Jan 2021 01:39
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/69828
DOI:

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