Studying genes and transformation plants

When we want to study the role of a gene, we can alter its expression; for example: silencing or suppressing the gene or improving its expression using a strong and constitutively expressed promoter.

Genetic engineering is a powerful research tool, and it also has the potential to improve the agronomic performance of crops, for these reasons, it has been largely studied and a lot of different techniques have been developed in recent years.

So how do we transform plants?

Transformation is a complex process, it may be transient or stable, depending on the biological question and purpose.

Generally, transformation involves:

  • the preparation of explants,
  • delivery of genes of interest into plant cells mainly via:
  • Agrobacterium or
  • biolistic-mediated methods,
  • the selection and regeneration of transgenic or gene-edited plants.

 

 

Text by Stefania Paltrinieri, PhD Student EpiSeedLink Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

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