Overview

Introduction

Nicotiana benthamiana, a model plant native to Australia, is extensively used in scientific research. Young N.benthamiana plants are highly susceptible to Agrobacterium tumefaciens, which facilitates transient gene expression in leaf tissues through agroinfiltration. Remarkably, N.benthamiana leaves can be agroinfiltrated with a complex mix of Agrobacterium strains, allowing for the transient co-expression of multiple genes without constructing complex genetic circuits[1].

Over the past decade, facilities have been developed to perform agroinfiltration on a large scale, enabling commercial-scale protein production. Medicago, a biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Quebec City, developed COVIFENZ®, the COVID-19 vaccine, by expressing the coronavirus-like particle (CoVLP) of the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 in N.benthamiana[2].

As more natural product pathways are discovered through this method, the facilities designed for industrial protein production are likely to be repurposed for producing high-value plant natural products, such as terpenoids or flavonoids. For example, K.S.et al.[3] synthesized artemisinin sesquiterpenes in tobacco, achieving a yield of 39.5 mg/kg fresh weight of artemisinic acid-12-β-diglucoside.

Mathematics Example

inline formula: \(E = mc^2\)

block formula:

$$\int_0^\infty x^2 dx$$

Header 1	Header 2	Header 3
Row 1, Col 1	Row 1, Col 2	Row 1, Col 3
Row 2, Col 1	Row 2, Col 2	Row 2, Col 3
Row 3, Col 1	Row 3, Col 2	Row 3, Col 3
Row 4, Col 1	Row 4, Col 2	Row 4, Col 3
Row 5, Col 1	Row 5, Col 2	Row 5, Col 3