Chloroplast genome engineering of potato enables diterpene production without agronomic penalty

Abstract

Terpenes constitute the largest and most structurally diverse class of plant secondary metabolites, with critical roles in plant-environment interactions and broad industrial applications. Although nuclear genome engineering of terpene pathways has been extensively explored, chloroplast genome engineering remains largely undeveloped, with all reported studies restricted to the model plant Nicotiana. Here we report successful chloroplast genome engineering for diterpene production in the crop plant potato (Solanum tuberosum). First we identified the trnT/trnL plastomic locus as optimal for minimizing integration-associated growth penalties. Insertion of a bifunctional diterpene synthase gene into this plastomic site yielded transplastomic plants with successful diterpene production, but with reduced growth. The co-expression of a geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase gene to enhance precursor supply restored normal growth while elevating diterpene accumulation. Transplastomic plants were otherwise agronomically comparable to wild-type. This work expands chloroplast engineering as a viable strategy for terpene pathway engineering in crop improvement and high-value terpene production.