Philip Morris Products S.a.

North Carolina State University

Lucien Bovet

Simon Goepfert

Prisca Campanoni

Nicolas Sierro

Aurore Hilfiker

Verena Liedschulte

Ralph E Dewey

Ramsey S Lewis

Helene Laparra

Michel Philippe Blanc

Jeremy Catinot

Joanne Schwaar

Jianli Lu

Dion Florack

James Battey

Simon Haenni

There is described herein a plant cell (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 (NtSULTR3;1A-S), SEQ ID NO: 3 (NtSULTR3;1A-T), SEQ ID NO: 5 (NtSULTR3;1B-S), SEQ ID NO: 7 (NtSULTR3;1B-T), SEQ ID NO: 15 (NtSULTR3;3-T), SEQ ID NO: 17 (NtSULTR3;4A-S), SEQ ID NO: 19 (NtSULTR3;4A-T) or SEQ ID NO: 23 (NtSULTR3;4B-T); (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); (iii) a polypeptide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 87% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2 (NtSULTR3;1A-S) or at least 87% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 4 (NtSULTR3;1A-T) or at least 87% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 6 (NtSULTR3;1B-S), or at least 88% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 8 (NtSULTR3;1B-T), or at least 70% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 16 (NtSULTR3;3-T), or at least 84% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 18 (NtSULTR3;4A-S) or at least 79% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 20 (NtSULTR3;4A-T); or at least 87% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 24 (NtSULTR3;4B-T); or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the isolated polynucleotide set forth in (i), wherein said plant cell comprises at least one modification which modulates (a) the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or (b) the expression or activity of the polynucleotide the polypeptide, as compared to a control plant cell in which the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or polypeptide has not been modified.

Modulating sugar and amino acid content in a plant (SULTR3)

There is described herein a plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 81% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 5 (NtINV4-S) or at least 62% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 7 (NtINV4-T); (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); (iii) a polypeptide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 6 (NtINV4-S) or at least 85% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 8 (NtINV4-T); or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the isolated polynucleotide set forth in (i), wherein said plant cell comprises at least one modification which modulates (a) the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or (b) the expression or activity of the polynucleotide the polypeptide, as compared to a control plant cell in which the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or polypeptide has not been modified.

Modulating reducing sugar content in a plant (INV)

A plant cell comprising: (a) a polynucleotide sequence encoding a nitrate reductase polypeptide comprising a contiguous polypeptide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 5 or SEQ ID NO: 7, wherein methionine is substituted for an amino acid that reduces nitrate reductase activity in the plant cell as compared to a control plant cell; (b) a polypeptide sequence encoded by the polynucleotide sequence set forth in (a); or (c) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the polynucleotide sequence set forth in (b).

Modulation of nitrate levels in plants via mutation of nitrate reductase

There is described herein a mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant or part thereof having reduced expression of the gene encoding Terminal Flower 1 (TFL1) or reduced activity of the protein encoded by TFL1, said TFL1 comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of (i) a polynucleotide sequence comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 72% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:7 or SEQ ID NO:8 or SEQ ID NO:10 or SEQ ID NO:11 or SEQ ID NO:19 or SEQ ID NO:20; or (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); or (iii) a polypeptide having at least 72% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:9 or SEQ ID NO:12 or SEQ ID NO:21; wherein the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or the polypeptide set forth in (i), (ii) or (iii) is reduced as compared to a control plant in which the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or the polypeptide set forth in (i), (ii) or (iii) has not been reduced.

Plants with shortened time to flowering

Provided are modified tobacco plants having reduced nitrate levels and tobacco products generated from the modified tobacco plants having reduced tobacco specific nitrosamines (TSNAs). Also provided are methods of reducing TSNAs in tobacco products by altering the gene expression of the nitrate assimilation pathway

Reducing tobacco specific nitrosamines through alteration of the nitrate assimilation pathway

There is described herein a plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 3 or SEQ ID NO: 9 or SEQ ID NO: 11 or SEQ ID NO: 17 or SEQ ID NO: 19 or SEQ ID NO: 21 or SEQ ID NO: 23; or a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 80% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 5 or SEQ ID NO: 7 or SEQ ID NO: 13 or SEQ ID NO: 15; (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); (iii) a polypeptide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 94% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 2; or at least 93% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 4; or least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 6; or at least 96% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 8; or at least 93% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 10 or SEQ ID NO: 12; or at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 14; or at least 96% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 16; or at least 89% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 18; or at least 92% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 20; or at least 93% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 22; or at least 94% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 24; or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the isolated polynucleotide set forth in (i), wherein said plant cell comprises at least one modification which modulates the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or the polypeptide as compared to a control plant cell in which the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or polypeptide has not been modified.

Modulating reducing sugar content in a plant

There is described herein a mutant plant or part thereof having at least partially reduced expression or activity of at least two heavy metal ATPases (HMAs), said two HMAs comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of: (i) polypeptides having at least 65% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1 and SEQ ID NO:2; (ii) polynucleotides encoding the polypeptides set forth in (i); or (iii) polynucleotides having at least 65% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:3 and SEQ ID NO:4 encoding HMAs; wherein the expression or activity of one of the HMAs set forth in (i) or (ii) or (iii) is partially reduced or lost and the expression or activity of one of the HMAs set forth in (i) or (ii) or (iii) is lost as compared to a control plant; and wherein the mutant plant or part thereof exhibits at least a 27% reduction, as compared to the control plant, in the accumulation of cadmium in leaf when the mutant plant is grown in the field in the presence of naturally or non-naturally occurring cadmium.

Reducing cadmium accumulation in field grown tobacco plants

There is described herein a mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant or part thereof having reduced expression or activity of asparagine synthetase, said asparagine synthetase comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of: (i) a polynucleotide sequence comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1 or at least 72% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:5 or SEQ ID NO:7; or (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); or (iii) a polypeptide having at least 78% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:6 or SEQ ID NO:8; wherein the expression or activity of the asparagine synthetase set forth in (i), (ii) or (iii) is reduced as compared to a control plant.

Plants with reduced asparagine content

In one aspect, there is provided a mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a member of the CLC family of chloride channels and having at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:4 or SEQ ID NO:10 or SEQ ID NO:11; (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); (iii) a polypeptide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a member of the CLC family of chloride channels and having at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:5 or SEQ ID NO:6 or SEQ ID NO:7 or SEQ ID NO:12 or SEQ ID NO:13 or SEQ ID NO:14; or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the isolated polynucleotide set forth in (i); and wherein the expression or activity of the polynucleotide or the polypeptide is modulated as compared to a control plant and wherein the nitrate levels in the mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant containing the mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant cell are modulated as compared to the control plant containing the control plant cell.

Tobacco specific nitrosamine reduction in plants

There is disclosed a mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a threonine synthase and having at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or SEQ ID NO:3 or at least 87% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4, or SEQ ID NO:5; (ii) a polypeptide encoded by any one of said polynucleotides set forth in (i); or (iii) a polypeptide having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:6, SEQ ID NO:7 or SEQ ID NO:8; or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the polynucleotide as set forth in (i).

Threonine synthase from nicotiana tabacum and methods and uses thereof

The present invention relates to a mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic tobacco plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a functional nicotine N-demethylase and having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2; (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); (iii) a polypeptide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a nicotine N-demethylase and having at least 95% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:3; or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the isolated polynucleotide set forth in (i), and wherein the expression or activity of said nicotine demethylase is reduced as compared to a control tobacco plant cell in which the expression or activity of said nicotine demethylase has not been reduced.

Reduction of nicotine to nornicotine conversion in plants

A mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant cell comprising: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence encoding a neoxanthin synthase and having at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID No. 6; (ii) a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide set forth in (i); (iii) a polypeptide having at least 66% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:2 or at least 60% sequence identity to SEQ ID No. 7; or (iv) a construct, vector or expression vector comprising the isolated polynucleotide set forth in (i), and wherein the expression or activity of the neoxanthin synthase is modulated as compared to a control or wild type plant.

Modulating beta-damascenone in plants

There is described a mutant, non-naturally occurring or transgenic plant or plant cell comprising (a) a polynucleotide selected from the group consisting of: (i) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 71% sequence identity to SEQ ID NOs: 1, 2, 27, 28 or 29 or 51; or (ii) a polynucleotide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 65% sequence identity to any of SEQ ID NOs: 3 to 23 or 30 to 50; or (iii) a polynucleotide encoding a NtMRP polypeptide comprising, consisting or consisting essentially of a sequence having at least 65% sequence identity to any of SEQ ID NOs. 24 to 26 or 52, and wherein the polypeptide has heavy metal transporter activity; or (b) a polynucleotide construct of at least 15 contiguous nucleotides in length that is at least 65% identical to a region of any of SEQ ID NOs: 1 to 23 or 27 to 51; or (c) a double-stranded RNA comprising at least two sequences that are at least partially complementary to each other and wherein a sense strand comprises a first sequence and an antisense strand comprises a second sequence and wherein at least one of the sequences comprises at least 10 contiguous nucleotides of NtMRP RNA; or (d) an expression vector comprising the polynucleotide as set forth in (i), (ii) or (iii) or the polynucleotide construct as set forth in (b).

Growing community of inventors

La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Lucien Bovet