Reducing levels of nicotinic alkaloids in plants
Assignee22nd Century Limited, LLC
InventorsTakashi HASHIMOTO, Akira Kato
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
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.
Claims25
1-27. (canceled)
A primer or probe pair capable of amplifying or detecting a nucleic acid molecule having at least 80% identity to SEQ ID NO:
- 3.
The primer or probe pair of claim 1, wherein said pair comprises isolated nucleic acid molecules comprising:
- (a) a first nucleic acid molecule comprising contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:
- 3;
- and
- (b) and a second nucleic acid molecule comprising contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:
- 3,
- wherein the first and second nucleic acid molecules function together as primers or probes for a nucleic acid sequence having at least 80% identity to SEQ ID NO:
- 3.
A method for identifying a tobacco plant comprising a mutant allele of NBB1, comprising
- (a) obtaining a nucleic acid sample from one or more tobacco plants;
- and
- (b) contacting said sample with a nucleic acid primer comprising at least 15 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:
- 3 or its complement;
- and
- (c) identifying a sample having a nucleic acid sequence that is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO:
- 3.
A method for producing a tobacco plant cell comprising a nucleic acid sequence that is at least 80% identical to SEQ ID NO:
- 3, comprising introducing into a population of plant cells a reagent for site-directed mutagenesis comprising an oligonucleotide having a targeting sequence with at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO:
- 3 or its complement.
A tobacco plant comprising a heterologous polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having the ability to suppress or reduce NBB1 expression or NBB1 activity.
An isolated polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide having the ability to suppress or reduce NBB1 expression or NBB1 activity.
A genetically engineered or mutagenized tobacco plant selected for reduced NBB1 expression, relative to a control, wild-type plant.
A tobacco plant produced by a method comprising:
- a) mutagenizing a plurality of tobacco plant cells thereby producing a plurality of mutagenized cells;
- b) screening plants generated from said mutagenized cells for reduced expression of NBB1;
- and
- c) selecting one or more of said progeny comprising a mutation in the nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO:
- 3, wherein said progeny has reduced NBB1 expression and reduced nicotine content.
A method for identifying a tobacco plant with reduced NBB1 expression, comprising
- (a) measuring NBB1 expression in a population of tobacco plants;
- and
- (b) selecting a tobacco plant with reduced NBB1 expression relative to wild-type NBB1 levels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.