Metabolic Engineering Boosts Strigolactone Production in Nicotiana benthamiana and Uncovers a Novel P450 Function
Dong, M.; Niu, C.; Qiu, Z.; Zhong, X.; Welsch, R.; Yao, R.; Bouwmeester, H. J.; Dong, L.; Li, C.
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Strigolactones (SLs) are plant hormones regulating shoot branching and symbiotic interactions, but their trace-level abundance limits research and applications. Here, we optimized a Nicotiana benthamiana transient expression system for SL production by tuning agroinfiltration parameters and co-expressing rate-limiting carotenoid biosynthetic genes. Overexpression of Zea mays PSY1 or an Arabidopsis PSY-GGPS11 fusion increased carlactone production over 2-fold and enhanced downstream SL accumulation. Using this platform, we discovered that sorghum cytochrome P450 SbCYP728B35 catalyzes conversion of 5-deoxystrigol to sorgolactone, revealing a previously unknown function. These results establish metabolic engineering of precursor supply as an effective strategy for boosting SL production and demonstrate N. benthamiana as a robust system for pathway elucidation and biotechnological synthesis of bioactive strigolactones.
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