Production of growth-promoting dipeptides in feed crops.
Chemists from the IPB and the University of Rostock have recently developed a system for the in vivo production of β-arginine-aspartate dipeptides (β-Asp-Arg DP). As feed supplements, these could be produced directly in crops and could prove useful in the farming of fish, pigs and poultry.
Until now, β-Asp-Arg DP are generated in vitro by the enzymatic degradation of purified cyanophycin (CGP) by cyanophycinase (CGPase). In their study, the scientists showed that by stable coexpression of CGP-synthase in plastids and CGPase in the cytosol of tobacco cells, CGP can be enriched in plant cells. The accumulated CGP is then fully converted to β-Asp-Arg DP by the CGPase after homogenisation of the plant material.
Dipeptides are a valuable source of amino acids because they can be resorbed unrestricted, while free amino acids inhibit each other in their uptake. The approach could also be suitable for other feed crops.
Reference:
Nausch H, Dorn M, Frolov A, Hoedtke S, Wolf P, Broer I. Direct Delivery of Health Promoting β-Asp-Arg Dipeptides via Stable Co-expression of Cyanophycin and the Cyanophycinase CphE241 in Tobacco Plants. Front Plant Sci. 2020;11:842. Published 2020 Jun 19. doi:10.3389/fpls.2020.00842
