The present invention describes an alternative approach to increase Taurine (Tau) or methionine (Met) production in eukaryotes, namely by the insertion of components of a sulfur-metabolic pathway and Tau- or Met-binding proteins in organisms where the peptides do not exist or have not clearly been identified. The invention describes methods for the use of polynucleotides that encode functional cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) alone, sulfinoalanine decarboxylase (SAD) alone or CDO and SAD polypeptides in combination with functional Tau- or Met-binding proteins in plants to increase Tau or Met production. The preferred embodiment of the invention is in plants but other organisms may be used. Increased Tau or Met availability will improve nutritional value of the crop.

The present invention describes an alternative approach to increase methionine (Met) production in eukaryotes, namely by the insertion of components of a sulfur-metabolic pathway in organisms where the pathway does not exist or has not clearly been identified. The invention describes methods for the use of polynucleotides that encode functional cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) alone or CDO and sulfinoalanine decarboxylase (SAD) polypeptides in plants to increase Met production. The preferred embodiment of the invention is in plants but other organisms may be used. Changes in Met availability will improve nutritional value of the crop.

The present disclosure provides a method for increasing a methionine content in grains by gene knockout. A maize ZmMETS2 gene is knocked out by a CRISPR/Cas9 technology, and it is found that the methionine content in maize grains is increased to a certain extent after the gene is knocked out. In the present disclosure, the CRISPR/Cas9 target site of the maize ZmMETS2 gene is designed and a function of the gene is found to significantly affect the methionine content. This provides a reference for CRISPR researches of the gene in maize and other crops, and provides a theoretical basis for methionine metabolism of the maize and other crops. Accordingly, the deficiency of human amino acid nutrition is alleviated by increasing the methionine content of transgenic plants.

The present invention describes an approach to increase taurine or hypotaurine production in prokaryotes. More particularly, the invention relates to genetic transformation of organisms with genes that encode proteins that catalyze the conversion of cysteine to taurine, methionine to taurine, cysteamine to taurine, or alanine to taurine. The invention describes methods for the use of polynucleotides that encode cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) and sulfinoalanine decarboxylase (SAD) polypeptides in prokaryotes to increase taurine, hypotaurine or taurine precursor production. The preferred embodiment of the invention is in plants but other organisms may be used. Increased taurine production in prokaryotes could be used as nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, or therapeutic compounds or as a supplement in animal feed.

Materials and methods are provided for making plants (e.g., soybean varieties, wheat varieties, or corn varieties) with altered amino acid content. For example, materials and methods are provided for making TALE nuclease-induced mutations in genes encoding seed storage proteins, or by making TALE nuclease-induced deletions of within seed storage protein genes.

There is disclosed a mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a threonine synthase and having at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 or at least 87% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:5; (ii) a polypeptide encoded by any one of said polynucleotides set forth in (i); or (iii) a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7 or SEQ ID NO:8; or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the polynucleotide as set forth in (i).

The present invention describes an approach to increase taurine or hypotaurine production in prokaryotes. More particularly, the invention relates to genetic transformation of organisms with genes that encode proteins that catalyze the conversion of cysteine to taurine, methionine to taurine, cysteamine to taurine, or alanine to taurine. The invention describes methods for the use of polynucleotides that encode cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) and sulfinoalanine decarboxylase (SAD) polypeptides in prokaryotes to increase taurine, hypotaurine or taurine precursor production. The preferred embodiment of the invention is in plants but other organisms may be used. Increased taurine production in prokaryotes could be used as nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, or therapeutic compounds or as a supplement in animal feed.

The present invention describes an approach to increase taurine or hypotaurine production in prokaryotes. More particularly, the invention relates to genetic transformation of organisms with genes that encode proteins that catalyze the conversion of cysteine to taurine, methionine to taurine, cysteamine to taurine, or alanine to taurine. The invention describes methods for the use of polynucleotides that encode cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) and sulfinoalanine decarboxylase (SAD) polypeptides in prokaryotes to increase taurine, hypotaurine or taurine precursor production. The preferred embodiment of the invention is in plants but other organisms may be used. Increased taurine production in prokaryotes could be used as nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, or therapeutic compounds or as a supplement in animal feed.

Provided herein are genome edited plants and plant parts that comprise increased amino acid content. In particular, the amino acids include tryptophan (Trp) and methionine (Met). Seed of the genome edited plants and plant parts can comprise increased Trp and/or Met. The genome edited plants and plant parts have genetic mutations in an anthranilate synthase gene including a gene encoding an alpha subunit of anthranilate synthase and/or a homocysteine S-methyltransferase gene. The genome edited plants and plant parts include soybean and pea. Also provided herein are compositions and methods of producing such plants and plant parts, and plant products including compositions comprising increased Trp and/or Met content.

The present invention describes an approach to increase taurine or hypotaurine production in prokaryotes. More particularly, the invention relates to genetic transformation of organisms with genes that encode proteins that catalyze the conversion of cysteine to taurine, methionine to taurine, cysteamine to taurine, or alanine to taurine. The invention describes methods for the use of polynucleotides that encode cysteine dioxygenase (CDO) and sulfinoalanine decarboxylase (SAD) polypeptides in prokaryotes to increase taurine, hypotaurine or taurine precursor production. The preferred embodiment of the invention is in plants but other organisms may be used. Increased taurine production in prokaryotes could be used as nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, or therapeutic compounds or as a supplement in animal feed.