# US 11,109,617 B2 · Reducing levels of nicotine in plants

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- Number: US 11,109,617 B2
- Document ID: US11109617B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/508,041
- Filed: 2019-07-10
- Published: 2020-01-16
- Granted: 2021-09-07
- Earliest claimed: 2005-02-28
- Assignees: 22nd Century Limited, LLC
- Applicants: 22nd Century Limited, LLC
- Inventors: Takashi Hashimoto; Akira Kato
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11109617B2

## CPC

- A24B 15/18: Treatment of tobacco products or tobacco substitutes
- A24B 13/00: Tobacco for pipes, for cigars, e.g. cigar inserts, or for cigarettes; Chewing tobacco; Snuff (reconstituted tobacco products A24B3/14)
- A24B 13/02: Flakes or shreds of tobacco
- A24B 15/20: Biochemical treatment
- A24B 15/243: {Nicotine}
- A24D 1/00: Cigars; Cigarettes
- A24F 47/00: Smokers' requisites not otherwise provided for
- C07K 14/415: from plants
- C12N 15/8218: {Antisense, co-suppression, viral induced gene silencing [VIGS], post-transcriptional induced gene silencing [PTGS]}
- C12N 15/8243: {involving biosynthetic or metabolic pathways, i.e. metabolic engineering, e.g. nicotine, caffeine}
- Y02E 50/10: Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel
- A24B: MANUFACTURE OR PREPARATION OF TOBACCO FOR SMOKING OR CHEWING; TOBACCO; SNUFF
- A24D: CIGARS; CIGARETTES; TOBACCO SMOKE FILTERS; MOUTHPIECES OF CIGARS OR CIGARETTES; MANUFACTURE OF TOBACCO SMOKE FILTERS OR MOUTHPIECES
- A24F: SMOKERS' REQUISITES; MATCH BOXES; SIMULATED SMOKING DEVICES (inhaling appliances for medical purposes, shaped like cigars, cigarettes or pipes A61M15/06)
- C07K: PEPTIDES (peptides in foodstuffs A23; obtaining protein compositions for foodstuffs, working-up proteins for foodstuffs A23J; preparations for medicinal purposes A61K; peptides containing beta-lactam rings C07D; cyclic dipeptides not having in their molecule any other peptide link than those which form their ring, e.g. piperazine-2,5-diones, C07D; ergot alkaloids of the cyclic peptide type C07D519/02; macromolecular compounds having statistically distributed amino acid units in their molecules, i.e. when the preparation does not provide for a specific; but for a random sequence of the amino acid units, homopolyamides and block copolyamides derived from amino acids C08G69/00; macromolecular products derived from proteins C08H1/00; preparation of glue or gelatine C09H; single cell proteins, enzymes C12N; genetic engineering processes for obtaining peptides C12N15/00; compositions for measuring or testing processes involving enzymes C12Q; investigation or analysis of biological material G01N33/00)
- C12N: MICROORGANISMS OR ENZYMES; COMPOSITIONS THEREOF; PROPAGATING, PRESERVING, OR MAINTAINING MICROORGANISMS; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING; CULTURE MEDIA (microbiological testing media C12Q1/00)
- Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION

## Abstract

Two genes, A622 and NBB1, can be influenced to achieve a decrease of nicotinic alkaloid levels in plants. In particular, suppression of one or both of A622 and NBB1 may be used to decrease nicotine in tobacco plants.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A tobacco plant comprising plant cells with one or more mutations introduced into their genomes in a region with a polynucleotide sequence that hybridizes under stringent conditions to the polynucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3, wherein the plant exhibits reduced nicotine levels as compared to a control tobacco plant.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

Seeds from or a progeny plant of the tobacco plant of claim 1, wherein the seeds comprise, or the progeny plant comprises, the one or more mutations.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

A product comprising the plant of claim 1 and having a reduced level of nicotine as compared to a product produced from a control plant, wherein the product is selected from the group consisting of a tobacco product, food product, food ingredient, feed product, feed ingredient, nutritional supplement, and biofuel.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The tobacco product of claim 3, wherein the tobacco product is selected from the group consisting of smoking cessation products, cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, cigars, cigar tobacco, snus, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco.