Experts aim to turn tobacco plant from a killer into healthcare products factory

For centuries tobacco has been used for smoking with serious consequences to human health.

26 February 2018

26 February 2018

Now, a consortium of scientists is aiming to support the declining traditional cultivation of smoking tobacco in rural areas by creating new tobacco plants to produce much more valuable products.

The EU-funded NEWCOTIANA project is co-ordinated by scientists at the Institute for Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology from the Spanish Research Council with participation of 19 industrial and academic partners from eight European countries and Australia. St George’s, University of London, is involved in two separate parts of the project.

Firstly, Professor Julian Ma co-ordinates research involving 10 of the research partners that will develop new tobacco plant lines and evaluate their performance in manufacturing pharmaceutical proteins.

Secondly, Dr Sebastian Fuller is working to engage with the public about the new plant breeding techniques used and the new products that will emerge as a result.

Instead of cultivating the leaves to make cigarettes, researchers have found promising ways to turn tobacco leaves into factories for medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products using a range of non-GM technologies, collectively known as New Plant Breeding Techniques.

Taking advantage of these cutting-edge breeding techniques which include CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing, researchers aim to develop new varieties of tobacco and its wild relative Nicotiana benthamiana to produce compounds such as antibodies, vaccines and medicines in a sustainable manner.

Julian Ma, Hotung Professor of Molecular Immunology at St George’s, University of London, said: “We will breed new varieties of tobacco that will be safe and efficient biofactories to produce important health products. Tobacco is an important global crop, and it is exciting to be part of a project that considers how to turn it from an enemy to a friend”.

Diego Orzaez, co-ordinator of the NEWCOTIANA project, said: “Our scientific aims are ambitious and in addition to solving a number of technical issues we realise that we also need to take into account regulatory requirements and start a dialogue with interested organisations and the general public.”

NEWCOTIANA, which was launched in February 2018 in Brussels, is a 54 month project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme. Updates can be found at newcotiana.org