Tobacco Having Altered Amounts of Environmental Contaminants and Methods for Producing Such Lines

Abstract

Disclosed herein are genetically modified tobacco plants, and tobacco products derived from such plants, comprising an altered uptake and/or altered levels of at least one environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemical as compared to an unmodified parent tobacco plant from which the modified plant is derived. The alteration in uptake and/or levels may be a reduction, or alternatively an increase, in the uptake and/or levels of the environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemical. These methods and plants are useful for improving tobacco products or in generating tobacco lines that may have environmentally useful properties.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for producing a modified tobacco plant comprising generating a tobacco plant comprising significantly altered uptake and/or altered levels of environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemicals as compared to an unmodified tobacco plant from which the modified plant is derived. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  comprising the steps of:
 incubating at least one tobacco seed from an unmodified tobacco plant in a solution comprising a mutagen; 
 washing the at least one seed free of the mutagen; 
 germinating the at least one seed and growing at least one M0 tobacco seedling in the presence of a selection agent to generate at least one M0 tobacco plant comprising M1 tobacco seeds, wherein the M1 tobacco seeds from the chimeric tobacco plant comprise at least one mutagenized M1 tobacco seed; and 
 germinating the at least one mutagenized M1 tobacco seed to select for a modified M1 tobacco plant comprising significantly altered uptake and/or altered levels of environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemicals as compared to the unmodified tobacco plant. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the selection agent is a heavy metal. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the selection agent is cadmium. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemical having altered uptake and/or altered levels is at least one of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg) or silver (Ag). 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemical having altered uptake and/or levels is cadmium. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modified tobacco plant comprises at least a 40% reduction in cadmium levels. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the modified tobacco plant is the species  Nicotiana tabacum.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising the step of growing a plurality of the modified M1 tobacco plants to generate M2 tobacco seeds, and germinating the M2 seeds to grow M2 plants, wherein at least one of the M2 tobacco plants is a homozygote for a mutation conferring the ability to grow in the presence of the selection agent. 
     
     
         10 . A modified tobacco plant comprising a significantly altered uptake and/or altered levels of environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemicals as compared to an unmodified tobacco plant from which the modified plant is derived, wherein the genome of the modified tobacco plant comprises a mutation that exhibits a dominant phenotype of resistance to growth in the presence of a selection agent. 
     
     
         11 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , wherein the selection agent is a heavy metal. 
     
     
         12 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , wherein the selection agent is cadmium. 
     
     
         13 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , wherein the environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemical heavy metal having altered uptake and/or altered levels is at least one of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg) or silver (Ag). 
     
     
         14 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , wherein the environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemical having altered uptake and/or levels is cadmium. 
     
     
         15 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , wherein the modified tobacco plant comprises at least a 40% reduction in cadmium levels. 
     
     
         16 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , wherein the modified tobacco plant comprises the species  Nicotiana tabacum.    
     
     
         17 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , where the plant is made by a method comprising the steps of:
 incubating at least one tobacco seed from an unmodified tobacco plant in a solution comprising a mutagen;   washing the at least one seed free of the mutagen;   germinating the at least one seed and growing at least one M0 tobacco seedlings in the presence of a selection agent to generate at least one M0 tobacco plant comprising M1 tobacco seeds, wherein the M1 tobacco seeds from the chimeric tobacco plant comprise at least one mutagenized M1 tobacco seed; and   germinating the at least one mutagenized M1 tobacco seed to select for a modified M1 tobacco plant comprising significantly altered uptake and/or altered levels of environmental contaminant or other non-natural chemicals as compared to the unmodified tobacco plant.   
     
     
         18 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 17 , further comprising the step of growing a plurality of the modified M1 tobacco plants to generate M2 tobacco seeds and further germinating the M2 seed to grow M2 plants, wherein at least one of the M2 tobacco plants is a homozygote for a mutation conferring the ability to grow in the presence of the selection agent. 
     
     
         19 . The modified tobacco plant of  claim 10 , comprising at least one of the 10TN-278-2, 10TN-253-4, 10TN-256-1 or 10TN-287-4 lines. 
     
     
         20 . A tobacco plant comprising at least one of the 10TN-278-2, 10TN-253-4, 10TN-256-1 or 10TN-287-4 lines. 
     
     
         21 . A tobacco product comprising a modified tobacco having significantly altered uptake and/or altered levels of an environmental contaminant and/or a non-natural compound as compared to an unmodified tobacco from which the modified tobacco is derived. 
     
     
         22 . The tobacco product of  claim 21 , wherein the environmental contaminant and/or other non-natural compound having altered uptake and/or altered levels is at least one of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), mercury (Hg) or silver (Ag). 
     
     
         23 . The tobacco product of  claim 21 , wherein the environmental contaminant and/or other non-natural compound having reduced uptake and/or levels is cadmium. 
     
     
         24 . The tobacco product of  claim 21 , wherein the modified tobacco plant comprises at least a 40% reduction in cadmium levels. 
     
     
         25 . The tobacco product of  claim 21 , wherein the modified tobacco plant is the species  Nicotiana tabacum.    
     
     
         26 . The tobacco product of  claim 21 , comprising at least one of the 10TN-278-2, 10TN-253-4, 10TN-256-1 or 10TN-287-4 lines. 
     
     
         27 . A composition comprising tobacco from at least one of the 10TN-278-2, 10TN-253-4, 10TN-256-1 or 10TN-287-4 lines.