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Stable Plastid Transformation in Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.)

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Abstract

Although plastid transformation in higher plants was first demonstrated in the early 1990s it is only recently that the technology is being extended to a broader range of species. To date, the production of fertile transplastomic plants has been reported for tobacco, tomato, petunia, soybean, cotton and Lesquerella fendleri (Brassicaceae). In this study we demonstrate a polyethylene glycol-mediated plastid transformation system for lettuce that generates fertile, homoplasmic, plastid-transformed lines. Transformation was achieved using a vector that targets genes to the trnA/trnI intergenic region of the lettuce plastid genome employing the aadA gene as a selectable marker against spectinomycin. Spectinomycin resistance and heterologous gene transcription were shown in T1 plants derived from self-pollinated primary regenerants demonstrating transmission of the plastid-encoded transgene to the first seed generation. Crossing with male sterile wild-type lettuce showed that spectinomycin resistance was not transmitted via pollen. Constructs containing the gfp gene showed plastid-based expression of green fluorescent protein. The lettuce plastid could have potential both as a production and a delivery system for edible human therapeutic proteins.

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Correspondence to Jacqueline M. Nugent.

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Cilia L.C. Lelivelt, Matthew S. McCabe and Ian Birch-Machin - These two authors contributed equally to the project.

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Lelivelt, C.L.C., McCabe, M.S., Newell, C.A. et al. Stable Plastid Transformation in Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.). Plant Mol Biol 58, 763–774 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11103-005-7704-8

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