TRANSGENIC PLANT COMPRISING NORCOCLAURINE 6-O-METHYLTRANSFERASE GENE TRANSDUCED THEREINTO AND METHOD FOR INDUCING ISOQUINOLINE ALKALOID BIOSYNTHESIS USING THE SAME

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a transgenic plant in which a biosynthesis system of an isoquinoline alkaloid is activated and to provide a method for inducing the isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis by using the transgenic plant. SOLUTION: Norcoclaurine 6-O-methyltransferase (6OMT) is an enzyme catalyzing a reaction for producing coclaurine from norcoclaurine in a pathway to the isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis. In examples, the 6OMT gene derived from a cell of Coptis japonica Makino is tranferred into Eschscholtzia californica to prepare the transgenic plant. It is confirmed that the transgenic plant produces the alkaloid in an amount of 6-7 times that of a wild type plant. Thereby, the transgenic plant can be utilized for efficient induction of the isoquinoline alkaloid biosynthesis. COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO