We report the production of hGM-CSF cytokine in leaves of industrial tobacco cultivars DH-17 and DH-27 by using Agrobacterium-mediated transient expression. We prove the concept that very high biomass industrial tobacco plants are suitable platforms for rapid, low cost production of foreign proteins. Successful transient expression of the GM-CSF was achieved in less than three months, opening t...

Fatty acids serve many functions in plants, but the effects of some key genes involved in fatty acids biosynthesis on plants growth and development are not well understood yet. To understand the functions of 3-ketoacyl-acyl-carrier protein synthase I (KASI) in tobacco, we isolated two KASI homologs, which we have designated NtKASI-1 and NtKASI-2. Expression analysis showed that these two KASI g...

Previous work has shown that the octopine synthase (ocs) gene encoded by the Agrobacterium tumefaciens Ti-plasmid contains an upstream activating sequence necessary for its expression in plant cells. This sequence is composed of an essential 16-bp palindrome and flanking sequences that modulate the level of expression of the ocs promoter in transgenic tobacco calli. In this study, we have used ...

Elastin-like peptide (ELP) was fused to two different avian flu H5N1 antigens and expressed in transgenic tobacco plants. The presence of the ELP tag enhanced the accumulation of the heterologous proteins in the tobacco leaves. An effective membrane-based Inverse Transition Cycling was developed to recover the ELPylated antigens and antibodies from plant material. The functionality of both the ...

To characterize the role of the phytotoxin mimic 6-substituted indanoyl isoleucine conjugate 1 in plant secondary metabolism, tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. K326) was treated with compound 1. The volatile compounds of tobacco leaves were analyzed by GC-MS. In contrast to the control, three compounds, farnesene (2), santalol (3) and tetradecanal (4), were induced by treatment with 1 mM of compoun...

Cigars were one form of Native American tobacco use observed by Columbus and early European settlers. A long, thick bundle of twisted tobacco leaves wrapped in a dried palm or maize leaf was used by Native Americans as a primitive cigar. Smoking of cigars is recorded on artifacts of the Mayas of the Yucatan region of Mexico, and the Mayan verb “sikar,” meaning to smoke, became the Spanish noun ...

Cyclic electron flow around photosystem (PS) I has been widely described in vitro in chloroplasts or thylakoids isolated from C(3) plant leaves, but its occurrence in vivo is still a matter of debate. Photoacoustic spectroscopy and kinetic spectrophotometry were used to analyze cyclic PS I activity in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum cv Petit Havana) leaf discs illuminated with far-red light. Only a ...

Background and Purpose: The aim of this pilot study was to determine possible genotoxic effects of occupational exposure to tobacco dust between workers employed in tobbaco industry and non-exposed population. Subjects and Method: The exposed group consisted of 20 subjects with mena age of 43.4 years. The average duration of their occupational exposure was 19.95 years. The control group consist...

Flavor is an important index to evaluate the sensory quality of tobacco. The process fermentation a key step in production aromatic substances tobacco leaves and factor improving their quality. Worldwide, reams research show that chromatographic technology plays irreplaceable role chemistry. Nevertheless, degradation mechanism latent compounds formation characteristic have not been fully system...