title: Milestones in chloroplast genetic engineering: an environmentally friendly era in biotechnology.
abstract: Chloroplast genomes defied the laws of Mendelian inheritance at the dawn of plant genetics, and continue to defy the mainstream approach to biotechnology, leading the field in an environmentally friendly direction. Recent success in engineering the chloroplast genome for resistance to herbicides, insects, disease and drought, and for production of biopharmaceuticals, has opened the door to a new era in biotechnology. The successful engineering of tomato chromoplasts for high-level transgene expression in fruits, coupled to hyper-expression of vaccine antigens, and the use of plant-derived antibiotic-free selectable markers, augur well for oral delivery of edible vaccines and biopharmaceuticals that are currently beyond the reach of those who need them most.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32826-3227, USA. daniell@mail.ucf.edu
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Daniell
authors.forename: Muhammad S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.forename: Lori
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Allison
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics; D001702:Biopharmaceutics; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000235:genetics*; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D018742:DNA, Chloroplast / Q000235:genetics; D004351:Drug Resistance / Q000235:genetics; D005658:Fungi / Q000235:genetics; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D006540:Herbicides / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000235:genetics; D010945:Plants, Edible / Q000235:genetics*; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D022462:Vaccines, Edible; D014867:Water / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018742:DNA, Chloroplast; D006540:Herbicides; D022462:Vaccines, Edible; D014867:Water