Assessment of tobacco and N. benthamiana as biofactories of irregular monoterpenes for sustainable crop protection

Irregular monoterpenes are important precursors of different compounds employed in pest control such as insecticides and insect sex pheromones. Metabolically engineered plants are appealing as biofactories of such compounds, but specially as potential live biodispensers of related bioactive volatiles, which could be continuously emitted to the environment from different plant tissues. Here we assess the use of cultivated tobacco and Nicotiana benthamiana as biofactories for the irregular monoterpenes chrysanthemol and lavandulol. We evaluate the impact of high levels of constitutive metabolite production on the plant physiology and biomass, and their biosynthetic dynamics for different plant tissues and developmental stages. As an example of an active pheromone compound, we super-transformed the best lavandulol-producing tobacco line with an acetyl transferase gene to obtain a tobacco lavandulyl acetate biodispenser producing up to 0.63 mg of lavandulyl acetate per plant every day. We estimate that with these volatile emission levels, between 200 and 500 plants per hectare would be sufficient to ensure a daily emission of pheromones comparable to commercial lures. This is an important step towards plant-based sustainable solutions for pest control, and it lays the ground for further developing biofactories for other irregular monoterpenoid pheromones, whose biosynthetic genes are yet unknown.

The dataset includes GC-MS data (peak areas quantified for each compound with its Qi, normalized) for all the figures and supplementary figures of the associated manuscript. Peak areas are normalized with an admixture, analyzed on the same day as the samples.

It also includes biomass data and measurements for the analyzed plants (plant height, leaf biomass, days to flowering time).

For all datasets, statistical analysis is also included to support the conclusions showed in the graphs.

不规则单萜（irregular monoterpenes）是多种害虫防治用化合物的重要前体，包括杀虫剂与昆虫性信息素。代谢工程植物作为此类化合物的生物工厂极具应用潜力，尤其可作为相关生物活性挥发物的活体生物释放装置，能够从不同植物组织持续向环境释放挥发物。本研究以栽培烟草与本氏烟草（Nicotiana benthamiana）为对象，评估其作为菊醇（chrysanthemol）与薰衣草醇（lavandulol）两种不规则单萜的生物工厂的可行性。我们分析了组成型高水平代谢物合成对植株生理与生物量的影响，以及不同组织与发育阶段的生物合成动态。以一种活性信息素化合物为例，我们通过超转化技术，将表达薰衣草醇效果最优的烟草株系导入乙酰转移酶基因（acetyl transferase gene），获得了可生产乙酸薰衣草酯（lavandulyl acetate）的烟草生物释放装置，单日单株乙酸薰衣草酯产量可达0.63 mg。据测算，按此挥发物释放水平，每公顷种植200至500株即可实现每日信息素释放量达到商业诱芯的同等水平。本研究为基于植物的害虫防治可持续解决方案迈出了关键一步，同时为后续开发其他生物合成基因尚未明确的不规则单萜类信息素生物工厂奠定了基础。

本数据集涵盖关联稿件所有主图及补充图对应的气相色谱-质谱联用（GC-MS）数据，即每种化合物的定量峰面积（附带Qi值）且已完成归一化。峰面积通过内标物完成归一化处理，且与样本在同日完成上机分析。

数据集同时包含受试植株的生物量数据与相关测量指标，包括株高、叶片生物量及开花天数。

所有数据集均附带统计分析结果，用以佐证图表中呈现的研究结论。