INTERSPECIFIC HYBRIDIZATION IN THE LOTUS GENUS TO BUILD FORAGE VARIETIES WITH ENHANCED NUTRITIONAL VALUE: MOLECULAR AND FUNCTIONAL EVIDENCES

VALERIA PASSERI; FRANCISCO J. ESCARAY; CRISTIAN ANTONELLI; OSCAR A RUIZ; FRANCESCO PAOLLOCI

Perugia

Congreso; 56° ANNUAL CONGRESS SOCIETA’ ITALIANA DI GENETICA AGRARIA; 2012

SOCIETA’ ITALIANA DI GENETICA AGRARIA

Proanthocyanidins (PA) are oligomeric and polymeric end products of the flavonoid pathway based on epicatechin and/or catechin units and leucoanthocyanidins. PA strongly affect palatability and nutritive value of forage legumes. Whereas high PA concentrations are detrimental for the animals, moderate levels of these metabolites in the forage prevent proteolysis during ensiling and rumen fermentation, thereby protecting ruminants against pasture bloat and decreasing methane emission by livestock. Unfortunately, among forage legumes only a few species are able to synthesize PA into the foliage but not alfalfa, Lotus tenuis or clovers, all legumes largely grown worldwide. Hence, triggering the accumulation of moderate amount of PA in these forage species is of both environmental and agronomical relevance. Although both regulatory and structural genes of the PA pathway have been cloned in model and crop legumes any GMO-based approaches have thus far failed in inducing ex novo PA accumulation in legume cells naturally uncommitted to accumulate these metabolites. With the aim of producing bloat-safe legume varieties and dissecting the genetic control and molecular determinants of PA biosynthesis we crossed plants belonging to a L. tenuis variety largely grown in South America with plants from a wild diploid population of L. corniculatus accumulating high levels of foliage PA. Notably, hybrid F1 plants showed an intermediate level of leaf PA with respect to the two parents that displayed a contrasting phenotype for these traits. F1 plants were fertile and a F2 population , consisting of more than 200 individuals was generated by free F1 intercrossing. Spectrophotometric quantification of PAs in these plants is ongoing as well as in vitro digestibility tests of forage from F1 and F2 plants that showed contrasting levels of PA. qRT-PCR based analyses of structural and regulatory genes showed that PA accumulation in leaves and stems of F1 and F2 plants nicely correlated with expression levels of genes deputed to the synthesis of catechins (LAR), epicatechins (ANR) and leucoanthocyanidins (DFR, ANS) as well as with some members of the TT2 (R2R3MYB) and bHLH gene families. This study highlights the importance of recovering wild populations to enrich Lotus varieties with useful traits and, to the best of our knowledge, it is the first example of transferring the PA trait between forage legumes.