An improved Nicotiana benthamiana bioproduction chassis provides novel insights into nicotine biosynthesis

center dot The model plant Nicotiana benthamiana is an increasingly attractive organism for the production of high-value, biologically active molecules. However, N. benthamiana accumulates high levels of pyridine alkaloids, in particular nicotine, which complicates the downstream purification processes. center dot Here, we report a new assembly of the N. benthamiana genome as well as the generation of low-nicotine lines by CRISPR/Cas9-based inactivation of berberine bridge enzyme-like proteins (BBLs). Triple as well as quintuple mutants accumulated three to four times less nicotine than the respective control lines. center dot The availability of lines without functional BBLs allowed us to probe their catalytic role in nicotine biosynthesis, which has remained obscure. Notably, chiral analysis revealed that the enantiomeric purity of nicotine was fully lost in the quintuple mutants. In addition, precursor feeding experiments showed that these mutants cannot facilitate the specific loss of C6 hydrogen that characterizes natural nicotine biosynthesis. center dot Our work delivers an improved N. benthamiana chassis for bioproduction and uncovers the crucial role of BBLs in the stereoselectivity of nicotine biosynthesis.

Automated summary

The study presents a new assembly of the Nicotiana benthamiana genome and the generation of low-nicotine lines using CRISPR/Cas9-based inactivation of berberine bridge enzyme-like proteins (BBLs). Mutants lacking BBLs significantly accumulated less nicotine. Further analysis revealed the crucial role of BBLs in the stereoselectivity of nicotine biosynthesis.