Production of modified carbohydrates in transgenic plants

In recent years the focus of interest in the production of transgenic plants has moved from agronomically important features like herbicide resistance or male sterility to the so-called “output traits”, which affect the quality of the harvested material. Beside modifications in fatty acid composition [1] and protein quality [2, 3], tailoring of carbohydrates is one of the main fields for molecular breeding programs. As carbohydrates are not only important storage compounds but the primary energy fixation products and main transport metabolites, three different aspects have to be considered in carbohydrate modifi…