Using Omics Tools to Decipher Provitamin A Production for Crop Nutritional Quality Trait Improvement

The advanced omics tools such as genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics facilitate the hunting of important genes that control quality traits of fruits and vegetables, the rich sources for phytonutrients including provitamin A carotenoids. Using the omics tools, we identified a number of candidate genes and proteins that are potentially associated with carotenoid biosynthesis and accumulation. We are in the process to functionally verify these candidates using a relatively high efficient and effective system developed in the laboratory. Meanwhile, by suppressing the expression of a gene involved in energy transport, we found that the capacity of plant cells to accumulate carotenoids was abolished, suggestion an important role of energy transport in energizing various metabolic processes for high levels of carotenoid accumulation. Moreover, we identified a novel mechanism of post-transcriptional control of carotenoid biosynthesis in plants. These studies not only provide basis to understand phytonutrient accumulation, but also identify new genetic resources for developing more nutritious and healthy food crops.