Biotechnology & Biotechnological Equipment

Volume 17, Number 2
Date: 2003

Reduced polyphenol oxidase activity in transgenic potato plants associated with reduced wound-inducible browning phenotypes

E. Arican¹ and N. Gozukirmizi²

Abstract

In potato the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) mediated wound-inducible browning phenotypes is one of the major drawback for food industry. In order to investigate and reduce PPO’s expression for browning we obtained the potato specific PPO cDNAs using Vicia faba L. specific (Locus VVU 83274) primers and cloned them under control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter. Transgenic potato plants (Solanum tuberosum L.) that show down expression of PPOs were obtained using Agrobacterium mediated transformation. Wounded transgenic plants with reduced PPO activity exhibited a great amount of reduced browning when compared with their control plants. Our results confirm the importance of PPO mediated phenolic oxidation in browning discoloration of potato suggesting the possibility of manipulation of PPO expression