Story perspectives

Six Genes Enable Tobacco to Produce Antimalarial Atisinium

8/3/2026

Summary

Story summary

Researchers at Michigan State University and the Czech Academy of Sciences mapped six enzymatic steps that convert a precursor into the diterpenoid alkaloid atisinium.
They transferred the six genes into tobacco plants, which then produced atisinium.
Labeled-substrate experiments showed the plants use ethanolamine, not ethylamine, as the nitrogen source for the alkaloids.
The pathway offers a sustainable route to produce atisinium, an antimalarial compound, and could facilitate new drug creation.

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Story summary

Researchers at Michigan State University and the Czech Academy of Sciences mapped six enzymatic steps that convert a precursor into the diterpenoid alkaloid atisinium.
They transferred the six genes into tobacco plants, which then produced atisinium.
Labeled-substrate experiments showed the plants use ethanolamine, not ethylamine, as the nitrogen source for the alkaloids.
The pathway offers a sustainable route to produce atisinium, an antimalarial compound, and could facilitate new drug creation.