2023-08-30 16:45:26
Sequencing of an improved version of the Nicotiana benthamiana genome has been carried out, a key plant in the creation of medicines that has previously been used in the production of vaccines against COVID-19 and influenza, or antibodies against the Ebola virus, among other applications. The work opens the door to improving the production capacity of biopharmaceuticals in the future.
The team that has carried out the work is led by Buddhini Ranawaka, from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia. Researchers from the Institute of Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology (IBMCP), a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in Spain, have also collaborated in the work.
“We have generated a high-quality version of the Nicotiana benthamiana genome, which is roughly the same size and complexity as the human genome. This improved sequence has also been completed with a series of additional information resources, what we call a multiomics platform, which includes transcriptomic, metabolomic and epigenetic data” explains Diego Orzaez Calatayud, a CSIC researcher at the IBMCP.
The generation of these multiomic resources, which provide detailed and concrete biological information, is necessary to understand and optimize the genes that control the quantity and quality of the biopharmaceutical compounds produced with this plant. “In this way, we can accelerate the use of Nicotiana benthamiana as a platform for the production of biomolecules, something that we hope will have a positive impact on the capacity to produce drugs on a scale in the future and, therefore, on making them accessible to the population,” says Aureliano. Bombarely, CSIC researcher at the IBMCP.
In-depth knowledge of the model plant genome is essential to understand its potential and, thus, to be able to apply it in different fields. “Just as sequencing of the human genome has enabled great advances in medical science and diagnostics, high-precision sequencing of the Nicotiana benthamiana genome has the potential to similarly improve the biotechnological and agricultural research and the production of new therapeutic products”, highlights the CSIC researcher at the IBMCP Víctor García-Carpintero.
This work is part of the European Newcotiana project coordinated from the IBMCP, whose objective is to advance the use of plants as a biofactory through the use of new genetic improvement techniques.
Nicotiana benthamiana plants. (Photo: IBMCP)
The Nicotiana benthamiana biofactory
Population growth and advances in medicine and nutrition are associated with a growing demand for biopharmaceuticals and other biological compounds related to health. “Plants are the organisms best adapted to sustainably and efficiently produce the compounds we need to respond to these challenges, since they only use light as an energy source and can be grown on a large scale using relatively simple agricultural technologies,” says Orzaez. .
The plant most used as a biofactory for medicines is Nicotiana benthamiana, a species of Australian origin related to tobacco. With this plant, different companies have produced vaccines against COVID-19 and the flu, or antibodies against Ebola, among other drugs. Furthermore, N. benthamiana rivals Arabidopsis for primacy in many fundamental research applications in plant biology.
The work has been published in the academic journal Nature Plants, under the title “A multi-omic Nicotiana benthamiana resource for fundamental research and biotechnology”. (Source: Esther M. García Pastor / CSIC)
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