Figure 1

Production of CBT-ol. (A) Total ion chromatograms of hexane washes from agro-infiltrated N. benthamiana leaves co-expressing p19 and NsCBTS2a or the empty T-DNA vector (pL1F-1) as a control. The CBT-ol peak is framed by vertical dashed lines. The α- and β-stereoisomers of CBT-ol could not be separated under standard GC-MS conditions. (B) Total ion chromatograms of total extracts from agro-infiltrated N. benthamiana leaves. The extracts were purified over SPE column prior to GC-MS analysis. (C) CBT-ol content in agro-infiltrated leaves harvested three and five days after transformation of N. benthamiana plants with NsCBTS2a and p19. Hexane washes from the surface of treated leaves (black bars) and hexane extracts from the rest of the leaf material (total extracts, grey bars) were analyzed by GC-MS. No CBT-ol was detected in leaves transformed with the empty T-DNA vector (see Additional file 3). Samples were taken from two N. benthamiana plants, in each case from two infiltrated leaves. Mean CBT-ol values ± standard error of the mean (SEM) are presented (n = 8). There is a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001, two-way-ANOVA) in the mean CBT-ol values regarding the timepoint of sampling post-infiltration. ISTD – internal standard sclareol.