CRISPRi-mediated down-regulation of the cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H) gene enhances the flavonoid biosynthesis in Nicotiana tabacum

Abstract

Flavonoids are an important class of natural compounds present in plants. However, despite various known biological activities and therapeutic potential, the low abundance of flavonoids in nature limits their development for industrial applications. In this study, we aimed to enhance flavonoid production by silencing cinnamate-4-hydroxylase (C4H), an enzyme involved in the branch point of the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats interference (CRISPRi) approach. We designed three sgRNAs targeting the promoter region of NtC4H and cloned them into a CRISPRi construct. After introducing into Nicotiana tabacum cell suspension culture, the transformed cells were sampled for qPCR and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry analyses. Sixteen of 21 cell lines showed PCR-positive, confirming the presence of CRISPRi transgene. The NtC4H transcript in the transgenic cells was 0.44-fold lower than in the wild-type. In contrast, the flavonoid-related genes at the other branching pathway, such as Nt4CL and NtCHS, in the C4H-silenced cells showed a higher expression than wild-type. The upregulation of these genes increased their respective products, including pinostrobin, naringenin, and chlorogenic acid. This study provides valuable insight into the future development of CRISPRi-based metabolic engineering to suppress target genes in plants.