烟草可替代青蒿批量生产抗疟药
来源:《eLife》 时间:2016/07/27

 

德国马克斯普朗克分子植物生理学研究所专家发明了从烟草中提取青蒿素的方法,从而可以满足大批量廉价生产抗疟疾药物的需要。这项研究成果刊登在科学杂志eLife上。

全球对抗疟疾药物需求很高,但大批量廉价生产始终还做不到,因为药物的主要成分青蒿素需要从天然植物青蒿中提取,而青蒿生长的地域和数量受限。德国马普分子植物生理学研究所专家发明了一种特殊的方法,从烟草中也能提取青蒿素,从而可以大批量廉价生产抗疟疾药物。

马普研究所科研小组把这种新方法称作COSTREL,它是将植物叶绿体转化和重塑的一种组合超变化手段。先是将青蒿素合成中关键酶的基因转移到烟草植物的叶绿体遗传细胞中,改变叶绿体基因,然后产生所谓的叶绿体转化烟草。接着在筛选出的最佳叶绿体转化烟草中,将另一组添加的基因注入植物细胞核内,这种添加的基因可调节烟草物质代谢途径,并提高青蒿素含量。

研究人员富恩特斯介绍说,从天然青蒿植物中提取青蒿素产量非常低,利用COSTREL方法可以从烟草叶绿体中大量提取青蒿素。研究小组对600多种具有不同青蒿素物质转化基因的烟草进行了试验,从中发现了每公斤能提取120毫克青蒿素,并通过简单化学反应就能提取的烟草品种。

马克斯普朗克分子植物生理学研究所主任博克表示,疟疾是一种危害性极大的热带传染病,每年要夺走约50万人生命。“在可预见的未来,青蒿素仍将成为抗击疟疾的主要和最有力武器。由于从青蒿植物获取的青蒿素量少,价格昂贵,因此很难满足贫穷国家用药。利用烟草提取青蒿素,可以低成本大批量生产抗疟疾药,满足发展中国家的患者需求。”(来源:科技日报 顾钢)

 

A new synthetic biology approach allows transfer of an entire metabolic pathway from a medicinal plant to a biomass crop

 

Abstract  Artemisinin-based therapies are the only effective treatment for malaria, the most devastating disease in human history. To meet the growing demand for artemisinin and make it accessible to the poorest, an inexpensive and rapidly scalable production platform is urgently needed. Here we have developed a new synthetic biology approach, combinatorial supertransformation of transplastomic recipient lines (COSTREL), and applied it to introduce the complete pathway for artemisinic acid, the precursor of artemisinin, into the high-biomass crop tobacco. We first introduced the core pathway of artemisinic acid biosynthesis into the chloroplast genome. The transplastomic plants were then combinatorially supertransformed with cassettes for all additional enzymes known to affect flux through the artemisinin pathway. By screening large populations of COSTREL lines, we isolated plants that produce more than 120 milligram artemisinic acid per kilogram biomass. Our work provides an efficient strategy for engineering complex biochemical pathways into plants and optimizing the metabolic output.

 

原文链接:https://elifesciences.org/content/5/e13664?utm_source=content_alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=fulltext&utm_campaign=elife-alerts

 

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