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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