Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology – Treatment of micro-organisms or enzymes with electrical or... – Modification of viruses
Patent
1993-07-16
1996-05-14
Fox, David T.
Chemistry: molecular biology and microbiology
Treatment of micro-organisms or enzymes with electrical or...
Modification of viruses
435 691, 435134, 435193, 800205, 800DIG15, 800DIG23, A01H 104, A01H 500, C12N 1500
Patent
active
055166679
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a plant with an altered fatty acid composition of lipids, more specifically, a plant made resistant to chilling injury by altering the fatty acid composition of its lipids, and a process to produce such plant.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Low temperature injury of higher plants is largely categorized into two different types. One is the injury caused by temperatures at or below 0.degree. C. and is called "freezing injury". The other, which is the subject matter of the present invention, is called "chilling injury" and is totally different from freezing injury. Most tropical and subtropical plants suffer chilling injury at temperatures in the range of 5.degree. to 15.degree. C., which injury damages the tissue(s) of whole and/or a part of the plants leading to a variety of physiological dysfunctions and ultimately to death in the severest cases.
Plants susceptible to chilling injury are called "chilling-sensitive" plants and include many important crops such as rice, maize, yam, sweet potato, cucumber, green pepper, eggplant, squash, banana, melon, kalanchoe, cyclamen, lily, rose, castor bean, sponge cucumber and tobacco. These plants suffer a variety of injuries, such as the inhibition of germination and growth, tissue necrosis as well as the death of the whole plant, at temperatures between 5.degree. and 15.degree. C., in most cases at around 10.degree. C., and thus are prone to damage by cold weather and frost. Furthermore, fruits, vegetables, and the like harvested from chilling-sensitive plants cannot tolerate low temperature storage (as illustrated by the black decaying spots that quickly appear on bananas when taken out of a refrigerator) making it difficult to store these harvests for a long period after the harvest.
Most plants of temperate origin, on the other hand, are chilling-resistant and are not injured even by a low temperature of around 0.degree. C. Chilling-resistant crop plants include wheat, barley, spinach, lettuce, radish, pea, leek, and cabbage. Wild weeds such as dandelion and Arabidopsis are also chilling-resistant.
Chilling injury is significantly related to the fluidity of membrane lipids that constitute biomembranes. Biomembranes are one of basic organizing units of living cells. They define the inside and outside of cells as the cell membrane and in eukaryotic cells also organize a variety of membrane structures (cell organelles) to partition the cell into several functional units. Biomembranes are not mere physical barriers against high molecular weight substances and low molecular weight electrolytes; the function of proteins associated with the membranes allow the selective permeation, and/or the active transport against concentration gradient, of particular substances. In this way biomembranes keep the micro-environment of cytoplasm and cell organelles in a suitable condition for their purpose. Some biochemical processes, such as energy production by respiration and photosynthesis, require a specific concentration gradient of particular substances across biomembranes. In photosynthesis, the energy of light generates a hydrogen ion gradient potential across the thylakoid membrane within chloroplasts, which potential energy is then convened to ATP, a high-energy compound utilized by living cells, by proteins in the thylakoid membrane. Accordingly, if biomembranes fail to function as a barrier as described above, it will disturb not only the micro-environment of cells but impair these cellular functions based on a concentration gradient, leading to serious dysfunctions of living cells.
The membrane lipids that constitute biomembranes are mainly phospholipids and, in the case of chloroplasts, glycerolipids. Phospholipids are 1,2-di long-chain alkyl (fatty acyl) esters of glycerol with a polar group bonded at the 3 position as a phosphoester. They are amphipathic compounds having both a hydrophilic portion (the polar group) and a hydrophobic portion (the fatty acyl groups) within one molecule and therefore form a lipid bi
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Fox David T.
Kirin Beer Kabushiki Kaisha
McElwain E. F.
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