Photosynthetica 2025, 63(2):140-150 | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2025.016

Increased brassinolide accumulation and increased growth in low-light-grown transgenic tobacco

R. GREBENOK1, T. UGINE2, M. GALANTE1, N. GREBENOK1, H. IQBAL1, N. OLSZEWSKI1, X. KRULL1, T. LINGENFELTER1, R. SEDANO1, E. CORIGLIANO1, A. GREBENOK1
1 Department of Biology, Canisius University, Buffalo, 14208 New York, U.S.A
2 Department of Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, 14853 New York, U.S.A

Transgenic tobacco, demonstrating bacterial cholesterol oxidase (CO) activity in the chloroplast, grown at PAR ~280 μmol(photon) m-2s-1 (low light), contained thylakoid membranes that include a greater variety of steroids and had reduced contents of sterol and sterol-esters per milligram chlorophyll in comparison to controls. The mature transgenic plants, grown at low light, demonstrate a ~3× larger root dry mass, ~3× larger stem dry mass, ~2× larger leaf dry mass, ~2× increased leaf number, and ~5× increased flower number than controls. Mature transgenic flowering plants, develop to first flower ~2× faster and grow ~30% taller than control flowering plants. The transgenic seedlings contain approximately 2× higher amounts of brassinolide (BR) per g fresh mass than controls. We propose that since the CO enzyme produces increased contents of oxidized steroids in the thylakoid membrane, this encourages enhanced photosynthesis, enhanced BR contents, and increased biomass accumulation.

Additional key words: brassinolide; cholesterol oxidase; oxidized sterols; photosynthesis; productivity.

Received: March 20, 2025; Revised: March 20, 2025; Accepted: May 5, 2025; Prepublished online: June 24, 2025; Published: July 10, 2025  Show citation

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GREBENOK, R., UGINE, T., GALANTE, M., GREBENOK, N., IQBAL, H., OLSZEWSKI, N., ... GREBENOK, A. (2025). Increased brassinolide accumulation and increased growth in low-light-grown transgenic tobacco. Photosynthetica, 63(2), 140-150. doi: 10.32615/ps.2025.016
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