Production and stably maintenance of strigolactone by transient expression of biosynthetic enzymes in Nicotiana benthamiana

Akira Yata; Shohei Nosaki; Akiyoshi Yoda; Takahito Nomura; Kenji Miura

doi:10.3389/fpls.2022.1027004

Production and stably maintenance of strigolactone by transient expression of biosynthetic enzymes in Nicotiana benthamiana

Front Plant Sci. 2022 Oct 28:13:1027004. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1027004. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Akira Yata¹, Shohei Nosaki^{1

2}, Akiyoshi Yoda^{3

4}, Takahito Nomura^{3

4}, Kenji Miura^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
² Tsukuba-Plant Innovation Research Center (T-PIRC), University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan.
³ Department of Biological Production Science, United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Center for Bioscience Research and Education, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, Japan.

Abstract

Strigolactones (SLs) are phytohormones that play an essential role in plant-microbe interactions. The instability of SLs makes it challenging to use them for application to agriculture. In this study, we successfully produced a large amount of the 4-deoxyorobanchol (4DO), one of SLs, in the leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana, using a transient expression system to express SL biosynthetic enzymes. Using this system, the yield of 4DO was 2.1 ± 0.3 μg/gFM (fresh mass). Treatment of leaves at 80°C for 16 h killed Agrobacterium and approximately half amount of 4DO was left in the leaves (1.0 μg/gFM (calculated based on the original FM) ± 0.3). Interestingly, incubation of dried leaves at room temperature for 1 month maintained an almost equal amount of 4DO (0.9 ± 0.2 μg/gFM) in the leaves. These results suggest that high accumulation of 4DO with stability for long periods can be achieved in plant leaves.

Keywords: 4-deoxyorobanchol; Nicotiana benthamiana; biosynthesis; strigolactone; transient expression; tsukuba system.