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In this study, we employed\n                      <jats:italic>Nicotiana benthamiana<\/jats:italic>\n                      as a platform for the transient expression of turmeric polyketide synthases, including diketide\u2013CoA synthase (DCS) and curcumin synthases 1\u20133 (CURS1\u20133). Using\n                      <jats:italic>Agrobacterium tumefaciens<\/jats:italic>\n                      and a polycistronic expression vector (C4), we achieved the coordinated production of curcumin [187.7\u2009\u00b1\u20094.6\u00a0\u00b5g\/g dry weight (DW)], demethoxycurcumin (41.8\u2009\u00b1\u20092.3\u00a0\u00b5g\/g DW) and bisdemethoxycurcumin (31\u2009\u00b1\u20094.6\u00a0\u00b5g\/g DW). Notably, the relative proportions of these metabolites closely matched those found in turmeric rhizomes. Metabolite identity was confirmed by chromatographic and spectroscopic analyses. These results demonstrate that plant-based transient expression systems can overcome key limitations of microbial platforms and enable the production of curcuminoids in physiologically relevant ratios.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00425-026-05014-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,11]],"date-time":"2026-05-11T19:31:14Z","timestamp":1778527874000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Metabolic engineering of Nicotiana benthamiana for production of curcuminoids"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"263","author":[{"given":"Rafael","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Castro","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Enrique","family":"Ram\u00edrez-Ch\u00e1vez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jorge","family":"Molina-Torres","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Brisia Alejandra","family":"Aguilar-Barrag\u00e1n","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5589-0720","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miguel Angel","family":"G\u00f3mez-Lim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,11]]},"reference":[{"key":"5014_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"716","DOI":"10.3390\/cimb47090716","volume":"47","author":"K Akter","year":"2025","unstructured":"Akter K, Gul K, Mumtaz S (2025) Revisiting curcumin in cancer therapy: recent insights into molecular mechanisms, nanoformulations, and synergistic combinations. 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