Japanese researchers said Thursday they had identified a gene that
transports nicotine through tobacco plants, a discovery that could pave the
way to cigarettes free of the carcinogen.

It was already known that tobacco plants produce nicotine in their roots and
carry it to their leaves, but it is the first time in the world that a
transporter gene was identified, according to one of the researchers.

Experts at Kyoto University's Research Institute for Sustainable
Humanosphere found the gene Nt-JAT1 transports nicotine to vacuoles, or bags
accumulating water and other substances in the cells of tobacco leaves.

They confirmed yeasts with Nt-JAT1 carry nicotine in experiments performed
jointly with Ghent University of Belgium, the research team said in a
statement.

The finding "raised the possibility of developing a variety of tobacco that
does not store nicotine in its leaves," said the team led by professor
Kazufumi Yazaki.

"This would enable smokers to stem nicotine addiction without using
anti-smoking goods," it said, adding it would also be good for nonsmokers if
tobacco smoke did not contain nicotine.

The transport gene could be used not only for the tobacco industry but also
for medical and agricultural purposes, said Nobukazu Shitan, assistant
professor at the Japanese institute who is in the team.

"I wonder if cigarettes containing little nicotine would sell well. But the
gene could also transport compounds that could be used as medicine," he told
AFP.

Nicotine is part of a group of commonly found compounds called alkaloids.

Some alkaloids derived from plants are used to treat cancer and the gene
discovery could be used to encourage plants to build up higher levels of
useful alkaloids, he said.

Several other genes are also believed to be involved in carrying nicotine
through tobacco plants although research on those has yet to be completed,
Shitan said.

The finding of the study will be published in the online version of the
Proceedings of National Academy of Science this week.
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