Genomic resequencing of low nicotine tobacco germplasm identifies novel allelic variations contributing to reduced alkaloid accumulation in tobacco.
Two novel nic1 alleles, nic1-5 and nic1-6, were identified and associated with suppressed nicotine biosynthetic gene expression and reduced alkaloid accumulation and these findings expand the known nic1 allelic diversity and facilitate allele pyramiding as a strategy for breeding ultra-low-nicotine tobacco cultivars.