Open AccessSilencing of vacuolar invertase and asparagine synthetase genes and its impact on acrylamide formation of fried potato products
Author(s) -
Zhu Xiaobiao,
Gong Huiling,
He Qunyan,
Zeng Zixian,
Busse James S.,
Jin Weiwei,
Bethke Paul C.,
Jiang Jiming
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plant biotechnology journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.525
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1467-7652
pISSN - 1467-7644
DOI - 10.1111/pbi.12421
Subject(s) - acrylamide , asparagine , invertase , cultivar , asparagine synthetase , fructose , sugar , gene silencing , biology , food science , gene , biochemistry , chemistry , horticulture , enzyme , sucrose , organic chemistry , copolymer , polymer
Summary Acrylamide is produced in a wide variety of carbohydrate‐rich foods during high‐temperature cooking. Dietary acrylamide is a suspected human carcinogen, and health concerns related to dietary acrylamide have been raised worldwide. French fries and potato chips contribute a significant proportion to the average daily intake of acrylamide, especially in developed countries. One way to mitigate health concerns related to acrylamide is to develop potato cultivars that have reduced contents of the acrylamide precursors asparagine, glucose and fructose in tubers. We generated a large number of silencing lines of potato cultivar Russet Burbank by targeting the vacuolar invertase gene VI nv and the asparagine synthetase genes St AS 1 and St AS 2 with a single RNA interference construct. The transcription levels of these three genes were correlated with reducing sugar (glucose and fructose) and asparagine content in tubers. Fried potato products from the best VI nv / St AS 1 / St AS 2 ‐triple silencing lines contained only one‐fifteenth of the acrylamide content of the controls. Interestingly, the extent of acrylamide reduction of the best triple silencing lines was similar to that of the best VI nv ‐single silencing lines developed previously from the same potato cultivar Russet Burbank. These results show that an acrylamide mitigation strategy focused on developing potato cultivars with low reducing sugars is likely to be an effective and sufficient approach for minimizing the acrylamide‐forming potential of French fry processing potatoes.