Methods and compositions for protein production in tobacco plants with reduced nicotine

A transgenic tobacco plant of the genus Nicotiana having reduced quinolate phosphoribosyl transferase (QPRTase) production relative to a non-transformed control plant, said transgenic plant comprising transgenic plant cells containing:

• an exogenous nucleic acid construct comprising, in the 5′ to 3′ direction, a promoter operable in said plant cell and a heterologous nucleic acid operably associated with said promoter;
• said plant exhibiting reduced QPRTase production compared to a non-transformed control plant and;
• said heterologous nucleic acid comprising at least 15 nucleotides of a nucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of:
• (a) the nucleotide sequence or the complement thereof of SEQ ID NO:1;
• (b) a nucleotide sequence that encodes an enzyme having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2;
• (c) a nucleotide sequence having at least 80% identity with the nucleotide sequence of (a) or (b) above and that encodes a quinolate phosphoribosyl transferase;
• (d) a nucleotide sequence that hybridizes to the nucleotide sequence of (a) or (b) above under stringent conditions and that encodes a quinolate phosphoribosyl transferase enzyme;
• and
• (e) a nucleotide sequence that differs from the DNA of (a), (b), (c) or (d) above due to the degeneracy of the genetic code and that encodes a quinolate phosphoribosyl transferase enzyme,
• and wherein said transgenic plant further comprises a transgene encoding a heterologous protein of interest.