Clizia Villano: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 133, 80055 Portici NA, Italy. ORCID
Vincenzo D'Amelia: National Research Council of Italy, Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources (CNR-IBBR), Via Università 133, 80055 Portici NA, Italy.
Salvatore Esposito: CREA Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Via Cavalleggeri 25, 84098 Pontecagnano Faiano SA, Italy. ORCID
Maria Grazia Adelfi: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 133, 80055 Portici NA, Italy.
Felice Contaldi: CREA Research Centre for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops, Via Cavalleggeri 25, 84098 Pontecagnano Faiano SA, Italy.
Rosalia Ferracane: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 133, 80055 Portici NA, Italy.
Paola Vitaglione: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 133, 80055 Portici NA, Italy. ORCID
Riccardo Aversano: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 133, 80055 Portici NA, Italy. ORCID
Domenico Carputo: Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Naples Federico II, Via Università 133, 80055 Portici NA, Italy.
Steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGAs) are a class of nitrogen-containing glycosides occurring in several plant families and biosynthesized through a specific pathway. HMG-CoA reductase is the first enzyme of this pathway, and its transcription can be regulated by biotic and abiotic stressors and even in a tissue-specific manner. This study aimed to characterize the genes family in a tuber-bearing potato species, , using transcriptional and functional approaches. Our results provided evidence that four with different tissue-specificities represent the gene family in and that they originated from through segmental duplications. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that is the direct ortholog of , which is associated with SGAs accumulation in plants. Its overexpression in revealed that this gene plays a key role in the accumulation of glycoalkaloids regulating the production of dehydrocommersonine.
