Knockout of a key gene of the nicotine biosynthetic pathway severely affects tobacco growth under field, but not greenhouse conditions.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

There is great interest in developing tobacco plants containing minimal amounts of the addictive compound nicotine. Quinolate phosphoribosyltransferase (QPT) is an important enzyme both for primary (NAD production) and secondary (pyridine alkaloid biosynthesis) metabolism in tobacco. The duplication of an ancestral QPT gene in Nicotiana species has resulted in two closely related QPT gene paralogs: QPT1 which is expressed at modest levels throughout the plant, and QPT2 which is coordinately regulated with genes dedicated to alkaloid biosynthesis. This study evaluated the utility of knocking out QPT2 function as a means for producing low alkaloid tobacco plants.

Results

CRISPR/Cas9 vectors were developed to specifically mutate the tobacco QPT2 genes associated with

SUBMITTER: Smith WA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9450462 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature