Modulation of flavonoid content in cacao plants
AssigneeCacao Biotechnologies LLC
InventorsDaniel Preston, Randall B. Murphy
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Abstract
Methods and materials for modulating (e.g., increasing or decreasing) flavonoid levels in cacao plants are disclosed. For example, nucleic acids encoding flavonoid-modulating polypeptides are disclosed as well as methods for using such nucleic acids to transform plant cells. Also provided are methods for accelerating breeding of Theobroma cacao plants of the porcelana variety with modulated levels of proanthocyanidin, its precursors and it polymers, useful in various medical and skin care products. Also provided are plants having modulated flavonoid levels and plant products produced from plants having modulated flavonoid levels.
Claims28
A method of modulating the levels of a flavonoid in a cacao plant, the method comprising introducing into a cacao plant cell an exogenous nucleic acid comprising a regulatory region operably linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a flavonoid-modulating polypeptide, wherein the flavonoid-modulating polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence having 95% or greater sequence identity to an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:10 and SEQ ID NO:11, wherein a plant produced from the plant cell has a different flavonoid level compared to the corresponding level in a corresponding control plant that does not comprise the nucleic acid.
A method of producing a cacao plant having a modulated level of one or more flavonoids, the method comprising:
- (a) introducing into a plurality of plant cells an isolated nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide having an amino acid sequence with 95% or greater sequence identity to an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:10 and SEQ ID NO:11;
- (b) producing a plant from the plant cells.
A cacao plant comprising an exogenous nucleic acid, the exogenous nucleic acid comprising a regulatory region operably linked to a nucleic acid encoding a flavonoid-modulating polypeptide, wherein the flavonoid-modulating polypeptide comprises an amino acid sequence having 95% or greater sequence identity to an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:10 and SEQ ID NO:11, wherein a plant produced from the plant cell has a different flavonoid level compared to the corresponding level in a corresponding control plant that does not comprise the nucleic acid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.