Expression of the farnesyldiphosphate synthase gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in tobacco

The coding region of the farnesyldiphosphate synthase (FDP synthase) gene from Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been inserted into a pBin19 vector, downstream of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S promoter, in order to allow its expression in the genome of a higher plant, Nicotiana tabacum. We have produced transgenic tobacco in which the expression of the foreign gene leads to functional FDP synthase activity. In these transgenic plants, total FDP synthase-specific activity is increased 12-fold compared to controls. This increase of FDP synthase activity has been correlated to a clear increase of both sterol and carotenoid biosynthesis. This heterologous expression is also related to an increased resistance of transformed plants to R172117, a specific inhibitor of FDP synthase, and to sterol biosynthesis inhibitors such as flusilazol and fenpropimorph.