US Patent Issued to North Carolina State University on May 27 for "Compositions and methods for minimizing nornicotine synthesis in tobacco" (North Carolina Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,310,324, issued on May 27, was assigned to North Carolina State University (Raleigh, N.C.).

"Compositions and methods for minimizing nornicotine synthesis in tobacco" was invented by Ralph E. Dewey (Apex, N.C.) and Ramsey S. Lewis (Apex, N.C.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Compositions and methods for reducing the level of nornicotine and N'-nitrosonornicotine (NNN) in tobacco plants and plant parts thereof are provided. The compositions comprise isolated polynucleotides and polypeptides for a root-specific nicotine demethylases, CYP82E10, and variants thereof, that are involved in the metabolic conversion of nicotine to nornicotine in t...