Described herein are variant, novel cannabinoid synthases, nucleic acids encoding same, and various uses thereof. In one aspect, a variant cannabinoid synthase or an active fragment thereof is provided comprising a non-naturally occurring amino acid sequence relative to a wild-type cannabinoid synthase or an active fragment thereof which acts on a substrate to produce an altered amount of a cannabinoid relative to an amount of the cannabinoid produced by the wild-type cannabinoid synthase or active fragment thereof.

The present disclosure relates to a variant polypeptide having attenuated dihydrodipicolinate reductase activity and a method of producing L-threonine using the same.

MPO1 and MPO2 can be regulated for either decreasing or increasing alkaloid levels in plants, in particular in Nicotiana plants. In particular, suppressing or overexpressing one or more of MPO1 and MPO2 may be used to decrease or increase nicotine and nicotinic alkaloid levels in tobacco plants. Suppression or overexpression of one or more of MPO1 and MPO2 may be used in combination with modification of expression of other genes encoding enzymes on the nicotinic alkaloid biosynthetic pathway such as A622, NBB1, PMT, and QPT.

The present invention refers to a method for controlling undesired vegetation at a plant cultivation site, the method comprising the steps of providing, at said site, a plant that comprises at least one nucleic acid comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding a wild-type or a mutated protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO) which is resistant or tolerant to a benzoxazinone-derivative herbicide by applying to said site an effective amount of said herbicide. The invention further refers to plants comprising wild-type or mutated PPO enzymes, and methods of obtaining such plants.

An isolated polynucleotide encoding a modified luciferase polypeptide and substrates. The OgLuc variant polypeptide has at least 60% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1 and at least one amino acid substitution at a position corresponding to an amino acid in SEQ ID NO: 1. The OgLuc variant polypeptide has at least one of enhanced luminescence, enhanced signal stability, and enhanced protein stability relative to the corresponding polypeptide of the wild-type Oplophorus luciferase.

A cofactor self-sufficient Escherichia coli and its construction method and application in the synthesis of L-glufosinate are provided. The present invention expresses a NADH kinase and key enzymes of the cofactor synthesis pathway in E. coli, and knocks out the genes of enzymes that catabolizes cofactor, and with the addition of co-metabolic intermediates during cell incubation, the intracellular NADP(H) concentration is increased by at least 50% and the catalytic activity of glutamate dehydrogenase by 2-fold, resulting in a significant increase in the spatiotemporal yield of the-glufosinate synthesis reaction.

Compositions and methods for providing desired cannabinoid content in cannabis plants. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods for using cannabinoid synthase paralogs as guidance for breeding cannabis plants with a desired cannabinoid content, including but not limited to cultivars, varieties, lines and methods of breeding the same for commercial use.

The present disclosure provides modified, transgenic, or genome edited/mutated corn plants that are semi-dwarf and have one or more improved ear traits relative to a control plant, such as increase in ear area, increased single kernel weight, increased ear fresh weight, increased number of florets, and mitigated flowering delay. The modified, transgenic, or genome edited/mutated corn plants comprise a transgene encoding one or more CONSTANS (CO) or CONSTANS-like (COL) polypeptide and have a reduced expression of one or more GA20 or GA3 oxidase genes. Also provided are methods for producing the modified, transgenic, or genome edited/mutated corn plants.

Described are nicotine-degrading enzyme variants that exhibit increased nicotine-degrading activity and/or decreased immunogenicity relative to the wild-type NicA2 and NOX enzymes, compositions comprising the variants, and methods using them.

Bacterial strains are provided having at least one enhanced mechanism to sequester, bind, precipitate, chemically oxidize or reduce copper ions or other toxic divalent transition metals. The bacteria may also have optional copper resistance mechanisms. The bacteria reduce the amount of available copper to tissues, which may be cancerous tissues, and reduce tumor growth, angiogenesis and/or metastasis, or tissues subject to excess copper due to host defects in copper metabolism. The bacteria are useful for treatment of neoplastic diseases including solid tumors and lymphomas, as well as Wilson's Disease, Menke's Disease, and possible Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease.