Transient expression of cor gene in Papaver somniferum

Nowadays, Papaver.somniferum is the commercial source of the narcotic analgesics morphine and codeine. Besides these two morphinans, P.somniferum produces approximately eighty alkaloids belonging to various tetrahydrobenzylisoquinoline derived classes. The isolation of effective genes involved in the morphine biosynthesis of P.somniferum is very important in the production of specific metabolites which can be achieved using metabolic engineering techniques. In this biosynthesis pathway, the key enzyme COR, is involved in the conversion of codeinone to codeine and morphinone to morphine. In this project, the gene encoding of this enzyme was isolated using primers which were designed on the base of gene sequence available on (NCBI) for P. somniferum. This gene was then cloned in expression vectors under controlled CaMV35 promoter. The result of this cloning was confirmed using different molecular methods such as enzyme digestion and PCR. After gene transformation to papaver somniferum plants the Agro infiltration method was also used for transient expression of COR enzyme. The results of evaluation showed that morphine and codeine were detectable in the leaves of transgenic plants containing cor transgene and there was significant difference in the final production.