Plastid transformation: Advances and challenges for its implementation in agricultural crops
Institution:
1. Laboratorio de Biotecnología I, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, Circuito Universitario s/n Nuevo Campus Universitario, C. P. 31125 Chihuahua, Mexico;2. Laboratorio de Cultivo de Tejidos, División de Ingeniería y Ciencias, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Av. Heroico Colegio Militar 4700, Nombre de Dios, C.P. 31100 Chihuahua, Mexico;3. Facultad de Agronomía, Laboratorio de Biotecnología, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Francisco Villa S/N Col. Ex hacienda El Canadá, C.P. 66050 General Escobedo, Nuevo León, Mexico
Abstract:
Chloroplast biotechnology has emerged as a promissory platform for the development of modified plants to express products aimed mainly at the pharmaceutical, agricultural, and energy industries. This technology’s high value is due to its high capacity for the mass production of proteins. Moreover, the interest in chloroplasts has increased because of the possibility of expressing multiple genes in a single transformation event without the risk of epigenetic effects. Although this technology solves several problems caused by nuclear genetic engineering, such as turning plants into safe bio-factories, some issues must still be addressed in relation to the optimization of regulatory regions for efficient gene expression, cereal transformation, gene expression in non-green tissues, and low transformation efficiency. In this article, we provide information on the transformation of plastids and discuss the most recent achievements in chloroplast bioengineering and its impact on the biopharmaceutical and agricultural industries; we also discuss new tools that can be used to solve current challenges for their successful establishment in recalcitrant crops such as monocots.How to cite: Quintín Rascón-Cruz Q, González-Barriga CD, Iglesias-Figueroa BF, et al. Plastid transformation: Advances and challenges for its implementation in agricultural crops. Electron J Biotechnol 2021;51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejbt.2021.03.005
