Production of cecropin A antimicrobial peptide in rice seed endosperm.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Cecropin A is a natural antimicrobial peptide that exhibits rapid, potent and long-lasting lytic activity against a broad spectrum of pathogens, thus having great biotechnological potential. Here, we report a system for producing bioactive cecropin A in rice seeds.

RESULTS:

Transgenic rice plants expressing a codon-optimized synthetic cecropin A gene drived by an endosperm-specific promoter, either the glutelin B1 or glutelin B4 promoter, were generated. The signal peptide sequence from either the glutelin B1 or the glutelin B4 were N-terminally fused to the coding sequence of the cecropin A. We also studied whether the presence of the KDEL endoplasmic reticulum retention signal at the C-terminal has an effect on cecropin A subcellular localization and accumulation. The transgenic rice plants showed stable transgene integration and inheritance. We show that cecropin A accumulates in protein storage bodies in the rice endosperm, particularly in type II protein bodies, supporting that the glutelin N-terminal signal peptides play a crucial role in directing the cecropin A to this organelle, independently of being tagged with the KDEL endoplasmic reticulum retention signal. The production of cecropin A in transgenic rice seeds did not affect seed viability or seedling growth. Furthermore, transgenic cecropin A seeds exhibited resistance to infection by fungal and bacterial pathogens (Fusarium verticillioides and Dickeya dadantii, respectively) indicating that the in planta-produced cecropin A is biologically active.

CONCLUSIONS:

Rice seeds can sustain bioactive cecropin A production and accumulation in protein bodies. The system might benefit the production of this antimicrobial agent for subsequent applications in crop protection and food preservation.

• Authors: Mireia Bundó, Laura Montesinos, Esther Izquierdo, Sonia Campo, Delphine Mieulet, Emmanuel Guiderdoni, Michel Rossignol, Esther Badosa, Emilio Montesinos, Blanca San Segundo, María Coca
• Journal: BMC plant biology (BMC Plant Biol) Vol. 14 Pg. 102 (Apr 22 2014) ISSN: 1471-2229 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 24755305 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides
• cecropin A

Topics

• Amino Acid Sequence
• Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides (biosynthesis, chemistry)
• Disease Resistance (immunology)
• Endosperm (metabolism)
• Fusarium (physiology)
• Gene Dosage
• Molecular Sequence Data
• Mutagenesis, Insertional
• Organ Specificity (genetics)
• Organelles (metabolism)
• Oryza (metabolism)
• Plant Diseases (immunology, microbiology)
• Plants, Genetically Modified
• Reproducibility of Results
• Subcellular Fractions (metabolism)
• Transgenes (genetics)