Composition and Methods for Producing Tobacco Plants and Products Having Increased Phenylalanine and Reduced Tobacco-Specific Nitrosamines (TSNAs)
AssigneeAltria Client Services LLC
InventorsChengalrayan Kudithipudi, Dongmei Xu, James Strickland, Yanxin Shen
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Abstract
The present disclosure provides approaches for reducing tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNAs) in tobacco. Some of these approaches include genetically engineering tobacco plants to increase one or more antioxidants, increase oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC), increase phenylalanine, or reduce nitrite. Also provided are methods and compositions for producing modified tobacco plants and tobacco products therefrom comprising reduced TSNAs.
Claims21
A cured tobacco leaf of a modified tobacco plant, wherein said cured tobacco leaf comprises a decreased amount of one or more TSNAs and an increased amount of one or more phenylalanine biosynthetic enzymes, regulators of phenylalanine biosynthesis, or phenylalanine metabolic enzymes, wherein said decreased and increased amounts are compared to an unmodified control tobacco plant.
A method for reducing the amount of one or more Tobacco Specific Nitrosamines (TSNAs) in a cured leaf of a tobacco plant, said method comprising the steps of:
- introducing a transgene encoding a phenylalanine biosynthetic enzyme, a regulator of phenylalanine biosynthesis, or a phenylalanine metabolic enzyme;
- and
- reducing the amount of said one or more TSNAs in a cured leaf of said tobacco plant or a tobacco product made from said cured tobacco leaf.
A method for reducing the amount of one or more TSNAs in a cured leaf of a tobacco plant, said method comprising the steps of:
- introducing a genetic modification in an endogenous gene, wherein said endogenous gene encodes a phenylalanine biosynthetic enzyme, a regulator of phenylalanine biosynthesis, or a phenylalanine metabolic enzyme;
- and
- reducing the amount of said one or more TSNAs in a cured leaf of said tobacco plant or a tobacco product made from said cured tobacco leaf.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.