Effect of diflufenican on total carotenoid and phytoene production in carrot suspension‑cultured cells

Abstract

This work analyzes the efect of difufenican, an inhibitor of phytoene desaturase, on the gene expression profles of the biosynthetic pathway of carotenoids related with the production of these compounds in carrot cell cultures. The results showed that the presence of 10 µM difufenican in the culture medium increased phytoene levels, which was 493-fold higher than in control cells after 7 days of treatment but did not alter cell growth in carrot cell cultures. The maximal production of phytoene was reached with 10 µM difufenican after 7 days of incubation in the presence of light and with 30 g/L sucrose in the culture medium. Moreover, difufenican decreased the expression of phytoene synthase and phytoene desaturase genes at all the times studied. This difufenican-induced inhibition of phytoene desaturase gene expression in carrot cell cultures resulted in an increased production of phytoene. Our results provide new insights into the action of difufenican in carrot cell cultures, which could represent an alternative more sustainable and environmentally friendly system to produce phytoene than those currently used.