Icon Genetics announces a joint field trial experiment in collaboration with the Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center (KTRDC), University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA. Transgenic plants with genetically engineered chloroplasts containing a Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase (PAL) gene from Arabidopsis thaliana will be tested under field conditions. A release permit has been obtained from APHIS. An overexpression of the PAL gene in tobacco chloroplasts aims at both pharmaceutical and industrial applications: the purified enzyme can serve as a drug for the treatment of the inherited disease phenylketonuria (PKU). The enzyme also serves as a biocatalyst for industrial biochemical synthesis. In addition, strong expression of PAL leads to accumulation of metabolites from the phenylpropane pathway, which are of commercial value.

Biosafety aspects have been carefully considered: Chloroplast-located transgenes generally do not spread into the environment via pollen flow. Moreover, the genetically engineered plants do not contain antibiotic resistance genes, since they were created using ICON's proprietary resistance marker removal technology: "The tobacco plants do not contain any foreign genetic sequences except those required for PAL protein biosynthesis. Expression is achieved by extending an existing operon, thus additional promoter elements, which may lead to genetic instability, are not required," explains Christian Eibl, PhD, Manager at Icon Genetics.

The Kentucky Tobacco Research and Development Center (KTRDC, a research unit of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture) is developing new plant varieties based on the tobacco plant 'family' (the genus Nicotiana), and associated agricultural production methods, specifically tailored to the requirements of new plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMP) opportunities. This new crop system will ensure zero possibility of accidental co-mingling with the traditional tobacco crop, provide enhanced economy of production, and meet or exceed the federal regulatory standards for PMP applications.