Generating colorful carrot germplasm through metabolic engineering of betalains pigments

Abstract Betalains are tyrosine-derived plant pigments exclusively found in the Caryophyllales order and some higher fungi and generally classified into two groups: red-violet betacyanins and yellow-orange betaxanthins. Betalains attract great scientific and economic interest because of their relatively simple biosynthesis pathway, attractive colors and health-promoting properties. Co-expressing two core genes BvCYP76AD1 and BvDODA1 with or without a glycosyltransferase gene MjcDOPA5GT allowed the engineering of carrot (an important taproot vegetable) to produce a palette of unique colors. The highest total betalains content, 943.2 μg·g-1 DW, was obtained in carrot taproot transformed with p35S:RUBY which produces all of the necessary enzymes for betalains synthesis. Root specific production of betalains slightly relieved tyrosine consumption revealing the possible bottleneck in betalains production. Furthermore, a unique volcano-like phenotype in carrot taproot cross section was created by vascular cambium specific production of betalains. The betalains-fortified carrot in this study is thus anticipated to be used as functional vegetable and colorful carrot germplasm in breeding to promote health.