Plastid transformation in sugar beet: Beta vulgaris

Chloroplast biotechnology has assumed great importance in the past 20 years and, thanks to the numerous advantages as compared to conventional transgenic technologies, has been applied in an increasing number of plant species but still very much limited. Hence, it is of utmost importance to extend the range of species in which plastid transformation can be applied. Sugar beet (Beta vulgaris L.) is an important industrial crop of the temperate zone in which chloroplast DNA is not transmitted trough pollen. Transformation of the sugar beet genome is performed in several research laboratories; conversely sugar beet plastome genetic transformation is far away from being considered a routine technique. We describe here a method to obtain transplastomic sugar beet plants trough biolistic transformation. The availability of sugar beet transplastomic plants should avoid the risk of gene flow between these cultivated genetic modified sugar beet plants and the wild-type plants or relative wild species.